No, your eyes and browser window aren’t deceiving you, my dear reader. Matarot Intuitive Wellness is now Shivaya Wellness.

Why the change? One, it’s a new year. Two, I’m a Gemini. Three, the word “Tarot” in my business name was becoming too limiting for my work, though I love Tarot as much as ever. I still offer the same services — intuitive readings and hands-on healing. Look for new services–including harp Reiki!–to appear soon.

I’ve also fallen in love with kirtan, thanks to stumbling across David Newman’s website and then Kitzie Stern’s amazing Kirtan podcast. If you often feel frazzled and holding on through all of the rapid pre-2012 changes, kirtan may be just the thing for your soul.

Last but not least, the name: Shivaya Wellness. Om namah shivaya (she-vai-ya) is one of the oldest mantras in the world–and just speaking it produces incredible change in the body; opening the heart chakra and inducing an overall sense of well-being. There really isn’t an exact translation of om namah shivaya: the power resides in the repeating of the words.

Shivaya, of course, is based in the god Shiva, the destroyer. Oddly enough, Shiva also means auspicious, kind, gracious. Shiva is seen as a pure force, the inner self that remains intact after everything else is in pieces.

That represents 2009 for me in a nutshell.

Om namah shivaya.