Inaugural Address

What happened to me recently illustrates how fast God grants wishes:
    I've been craving soda for about a week now, but I can't justify spending the money on something I don't like to keep in the house anyway. The only soda worth drinking, in my opinion, is Virgil's. 

 No preservatives, all natural ingredients, great microbrew taste, and if I don’t want to drink the whole bottle I pop a wine cork in it and it stays good for about a week. I promise I’m not being paid to write this.

However, their fine soda is prohibitively expensive for everyday consumption. So I was at BJ’s Wholesale Discount Club thinking, "I wish BJ’s sold soda worth buying, like Virgil's." At that exact moment, I turned around and *BAM* there it was! Virgil’s is usually $5 per 4pk at any normal retailer, at BJ’s it is $10 for three 4pks! The tale becomes stranger still; when I was putting them away at home, I found a bottle of Virgil's buried in the back of the fridge! It was there the whole time but I didn’t notice it; if I had it would have sated my craving and I wouldn’t have had the experience with which I was blessed.

Patient reader, you might think this is silly, but I think this is an example of God setting Life up just right for you to get a little present to remind you Spirit is looking out for you. (The emotion evoked in moments like this reminds me of when I was a kid and I would visit my dad's parents. PopPop would give me one piece of candy from his special stash in the end table drawer.) Not only did I get a lovely demonstration of God’s gracious serendipity, but the synchronicity continues, as the experience gave me the inspiration needed to write this, my inaugural blog.

   You see, there’s a reason I’ve called my blog “The Bridge”, for the same reason I call my divination practice “Bridge Tarot”, and it’s not just a play on my last name (Pethybridge). Please bear with me, though my train of thought might seem to switch tracks. If you’re a part of the online poker community you have probably heard of my father, who goes by mpethybridge online, the only man in the world (as far as we know) to offer poker coaching based on database analysis. It is a lovely coincidence that his “handle” sounds like “Empathy Bridge”. This gave me the inspiration for the name of my practice. Through both my divination practice and my writing I seek to be a bridge between you and Source, like the aforementioned experience was for me. I seek to facilitate communication and communion for what I hope will blossom into a personal relationship between you and God. Sometimes it is hard to hear God speaking in our lives. At some point in everyone’s life the busy-ness of it all can distract us from picking out the peace amidst the chaos. It is at those times we need a reminder that Spirit is with us, we need a guide to the source of the Divine voice echoing off the walls of the dark, uncharted cave that is Life. I find these guides in the voice of the trees as the wind rustles their leaves, in the thrice appearance of an animal or concept, in the words of a poet, in the song of a musical artist, in the honest advice of a friend. I am blessed and honored to have been allowed to be that guide to many people through the Tarot and it is my hope that what I set down here might also help the weary traveler as they seek Truth. So, welcome, bienvenidos, céade mile fáilte! I look forward to exploring the richness of Life with you!

Post Script:
    I just realized a further synchronicity. Virgil is Dante’s guide in the Divine Comedy!

An afterword on the spiritual tone:
    I have described myself as both a Pagan and a Christian in the past and have studied all major world religions/mythologies, in varying detail. I consider comparative theology my life’s continuing work. All of these perspectives influence me and my writing. I have come to consider myself a mystic, which means that I value the personal relationship with God over ancient hearsay. Mystics come from any and every religious tradition, but they will all tell you that God speaks with many tongues, wears many masks, and does not withhold Truth from any People or Seeker. I believe the religious traditions of the world are all wells, tapping the same underground river of Divine Truth. And I think it is possible for every single Human Being to dig their own well! I enumerate this because I don’t want to alienate anyone. I might write one day about Jesus, the next about Buddha, and the next about Bob Marley. I take Virtue where I find it, and I find it everywhere, because nothing exists that is not God.

   To my atheist friends, I don’t wish to alienate you either. There may be aspects of my writing that you can’t relate to on a word-for-word basis. However, I think you’ll still be able to share in the “richness of Life” that I seek to express here. For example, in this blog, maybe you don’t see it as Divine guidance but I’m sure you can appreciate and take comfort in the Wonder that such synchronicity happens.

I encourage everyone to view my work in the way that is most useful to you, regardless of what it meant to me initially. And I hope you’ll contribute to the richness and depth of Life by sharing your pertinent perspective and experiences in the comments!

   With much Love and Light, I bid you adieu, adieu, remember me…