{"id":73178,"date":"2023-12-03T10:19:17","date_gmt":"2023-12-03T17:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=73178"},"modified":"2023-12-03T10:19:17","modified_gmt":"2023-12-03T17:19:17","slug":"gaining-purpose-and-perspective-tarot-reading-in-calgary-with-lilith-strega","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2023\/12\/03\/gaining-purpose-and-perspective-tarot-reading-in-calgary-with-lilith-strega\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Gaining purpose and perspective\u2019: Tarot reading in Calgary with Lilith Strega"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_73179\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-73179\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-73179\" src=\"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/20231121-Story-Package-3-JDR-0026-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1789\" srcset=\"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/20231121-Story-Package-3-JDR-0026-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/20231121-Story-Package-3-JDR-0026-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/20231121-Story-Package-3-JDR-0026-1024x715.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/20231121-Story-Package-3-JDR-0026-768x537.jpg 768w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/20231121-Story-Package-3-JDR-0026-1536x1073.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/20231121-Story-Package-3-JDR-0026-2048x1431.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-73179\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Tarot reader: <\/strong>Lilith Strega sets up her equipment for a tarot reading session in Higher Ground Cafe at Kensington Road N.W. Calgary, Alta. on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023. Strega has been offering professional tarot reading services since 2020. (Photo by Janille Delos Reyes\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span class=\"wpsdc-drop-cap\">T<\/span>he healing crystals in front of Lilith Strega reflect the warm rays of afternoon sun seeping through the windows at Higher Ground Cafe, as she pulls out three decks of tarot cards to set up for the day&#8217;s work.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strega has been offering professional tarot reading services for three years. Her journey began 12 years ago when a friend gifted her a tarot deck. She started by pulling cards for herself once a day until it gradually became a religious practice and a source of structure in her life. Now, Strega is guiding Calgarians with tarot readings on a regular basis.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019ve devoted myself entirely to spiritual exploration so that I can help other people who are struggling,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strega is an intuitive healer, specializing in complex trauma and addiction.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI want to help other people with this because (tarot) helped me so much,\u201d she said. \u201cI started meeting people in this coffee shop, finding people online, and reading for them.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strega shared her personal experiences with alcohol and substance abuse.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI used to be a severe alcoholic and drug addict,\u201d she recalled. \u201cBut as I started to connect more and more with tarot, I started to realize the things in my life that were holding me back, like drugs and alcohol, which I no longer touch anymore.\u201d<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tarot reading allowed Strega to gain a new purpose and perspective.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI learned more about myself from the process,\u201d she said. \u201cMy purpose is to help people understand different sides of themselves that perhaps they didn&#8217;t notice through the cards.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strega promotes her services through her <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/healinglilith\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instagram<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> account as well as her <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lilithstrega.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And, she says, there are considerations to ponder before submitting to a session.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSomeone seeking desperate answers should not get a tarot reading,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/research.library.mun.ca\/15008\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to a 2021 master&#8217;s thesis at Memorial University<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, practitioners can utilize tarot to help clients with decision-making and offer insights into problems. It is a dynamic practice affected by a person&#8217;s circumstances and attitudes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe goal of tarot is not to tell your future,&#8221; said Strega. &#8220;Everything changes with every decision that you make.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt just gives you a tool to approach a situation with emotional intelligence and preparation. That&#8217;s all it is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strega often encounters clients who only rely on the cards for answers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThere&#8217;s so much more to this than just saying, &#8216;You&#8217;re going to lose your job in six months and you&#8217;re going to break up with your boyfriend.&#8217; It doesn&#8217;t work like that,\u201d she said. \u201cI&#8217;m here to offer emotional support and spiritual guidance and to explain things with so many different layers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cheyenne Seely, a professional tarot reader for 13 years, agreed with these sentiments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cNo one knows what the future holds,\u201d Seely said. \u201c(Tarot reading) can give you little insights that can be incredibly beneficial, but tarot cards are also meant to be intentionally big. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s telling you that someone is holding power over you, or you&#8217;re letting someone&#8217;s opinion of you control your thoughts and feelings. But it&#8217;s not going to tell you immediately.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strega sometimes deals with online harassment from dissatisfied customers who do not get the response that they expected. However, she knows how to protect her peace.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSomeone with a fixed mindset looking for direct answers is always going to leave unhappy or dissatisfied,\u201d she said. \u201cYou need an emotional connection and an open mind to receive the high yield that tarot offers.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Therefore, Strega says she lets them live their chosen reality.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Regardless of criticisms of her and her practice, Strega continues to help her clients live happy, authentic lives. She has been receiving glowing testimonies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt makes me feel so good. Because I know that I can give somebody some sort of insight,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I know right there, I&#8217;ve done my job.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strega is encouraged by the financial benefits that tarot reading brings her. However, she values her craft and advocacy of helping other people more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI&#8217;m not in it for the money. I&#8217;m here to help people,\u201d she said. \u201c Yes, it does benefit me, but at the same time, I care about the people who come with their problems. I want to help them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_73181\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-73181\" style=\"width: 2007px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-73181\" src=\"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/20231121-Story-Package-3-JDR-0024-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2007\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/20231121-Story-Package-3-JDR-0024-scaled.jpg 2007w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/20231121-Story-Package-3-JDR-0024-235x300.jpg 235w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/20231121-Story-Package-3-JDR-0024-803x1024.jpg 803w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/20231121-Story-Package-3-JDR-0024-768x980.jpg 768w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/20231121-Story-Package-3-JDR-0024-1204x1536.jpg 1204w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/20231121-Story-Package-3-JDR-0024-1605x2048.jpg 1605w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2007px) 100vw, 2007px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-73181\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Spiritual guide: <\/strong>Lilith Strega sets up her equipment for a tarot reading session in Higher Ground Cafe at Kensington Road N.W. Calgary, Alta. on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023. Strega has been offering professional tarot reading services since 2020. (Photo by Janille Delos Reyes\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>For three years, Lilith Strega has been spiritually guiding Calgarians through tarot card readings at Higher Grounds Cafe. <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2023\/12\/03\/gaining-purpose-and-perspective-tarot-reading-in-calgary-with-lilith-strega\/\" title=\"\u2018Gaining purpose and perspective\u2019: Tarot reading in Calgary with Lilith Strega\">[ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":865,"featured_media":73179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S3 Tarot Reading JDR ","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1109],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-73178","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-life","8":"category-mental-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/865"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73178"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73365,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73178\/revisions\/73365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}