Hi Lipstick Mystic,

My question is what are my spiritual gifts?

Thanks!

-- Starlight

Dear Starlight (love your name!)

When I cast the tea leaves for you, the image that appeared was the mirror. (The shape was of a small hand mirror with a handle at the bottom.) The mirror is a very powerful image as far as psychic abilities go. All of the most gifted intuitives and healers have the ability to act as a mirror, to reflect back the essence of another person. This makes you a good psychologist, because you can always figure out what someone is really thinking and feeling. And it also makes you a sharp observer. You're able to pick up on subtle energy patterns and hidden aspects of the people around you because you have highly-developed psychic radar.

People with your type of ability have the potential to succeed in any arena where their talents for getting along with people and creating harmony within groups can be used. So whatever job or position you assume in life, you'll become the hidden "grease" that keeps everything flowing. People with mirror energy often have a gentle touch and a shy disposition because they are so sensitive, yet they are actually very strong people with an indominatable spirit. There's a lot of spiritual power and integrity in a "mirror" person.

The challenge about being a mirror type is that sometimes you can serve as such a wonderful reflection for others that you lose your sense of self in the process. I used to work in professional theater, where I found that most actors are gifted mirror people. They were tremendously talented at becoming a character onstage, because they could easily summon up the mannerisms, the vocal inflections, and the essence of an imaginary person. But when they came offstage at the end of the show, many of them were a little lost. They weren't always comfortable simply being themselves. Many of them felt safest and happiest when they were onstage, because for those two hours when they were performing a play, they knew exactly how to behave. Offstage, some of them lacked a strong sense of personal direction.

Mirror people can get so flooded with the energies of other people around them that they need to have a certain amount of peace and privacy in their lives so that they can center themselves. Otherwise, mirrors tend to just "go with the flow," following other people's lead, without truly asking themselves, "What is it that I want? What should I be doing on my own?"

So if you can learn how to balance being a "sponge" and absorbing energy from people around you with times of quiet, when you can be completely alone and recharge your batteries, you'll be able to access the positive aspects of the mirror energy without dipping too much into the shadow side. The mirror's shadow side can be a tendency to bend to peer pressure, to think that other people know what's best for them. So keep working on developing a strong sense of self that stands separate from others, empowered and mentally clear. This will tend to become easier for you as you get older.

Thanks very much for submitting such an interesting question, and keep exploring your spiritual nature on your own. I'm sure you'll uncover many other surprising gifts!

--Lipstick Mystic