My question I think is:
Is the outlook for a raise favorable within the next couple of months or do I need to consider looking for different employment?
hmmm.... is that dual question?
Thanks and wishing you blessings for any insight.
mo

It is probably only to be regarded as two separate questions if your failure to get a promotion necessarily means that your current position is untenable, and that you have no choice other than to find alternative employment. But is this indeed the case? Isn't applying for a promotion at a later time still a viable option for you, when the opportunity to do so next arises? Do you feel that you are either not getting anywhere with your present job or are just running out of time or is it instead that you feel that it is beneath a person with your qualifications and work skills and that you are under employed? How long have you had this job and what are your career ambitions and expectations over the next five years?

Now I am not asking you to answer all these questions for me on the public forum, but I am simply writing down like a secretary the many thoughts and questions which are running through my head when I tune into your request. These questions are for you to consider in greater depth during a quiet time of private meditation, as you are perhaps unintentionally suggesting that it is either a promotion or get another job. There does not with due respect appear to be any room for compromise, if you are not successful at getting this particular promotion (and I am not saying that the reading is telling me that you would fail to do so). Neither is it telling me with any high degree of certainty that you will.

If you do not happen to get the promotion you have been waiting so long for this time, do you believe that you are being passed over because of preferential treatment of others by your boss, or could it be that you lack the necessary qualities which the company feels is required for effectively taking this position of increased responsibility? Not knowing or being able to read directly the qualifications and relevant personal qualities of the other candidates for this promotion, any insights I could offer you would only be my best guess or feelings about your chances.

Reducing this reading to a YES you are likely to get this promotion, or a NO you are not and will then choose to find alternative employment, while you probably do not want to hear this the cards (and specifically the Chariot) are telling me that you have presently got yourself into a bit of a rut where nothing much seems to be happening. You are very much like a driver who has both the accelerator and brake pedals pushed flat to the floor at exactly the same time. A definite feeling of spinning your wheels and of you getting increasingly frustrated and bored with the job you are already doing. This is not however by itself a valid reason for seeking a promotion now, and unless you can think of other reasons than this why you would be the best person for the job then I do not like your chances.

If one of many possible factors that could potentially affect the outcome in a positive manner happens in the meantime, then I am perfectly willing to stand corrected with regards to my negative prediction, and I sincerely hope that I will. I wish you well with getting the promotion, but assure you that if you do not, your entire working career and everything you have worked for over time is not necessarily dead and gone. It will not be the end of the world if you do not get this promotion, although you would not be human if you did not feel disappointed. Is there a third or fourth option?

Take care,

eye_of_tiger

thank you eye!
I actually really love my current job.  Although, the work isn't as challenging as I'm accustomed to, I enjoy the people.  Maybe I am "over qualified", but I've never been too ambitious in regards to a career.  I need a raise and do feel I'm underpaid for the work I perform and the responsibilities involved.  
I'm hoping for said raise so I don't have to look for another job.  The company I work for is small.  but stable
I'll read again your writings, and really look at what I want and need and the path I may have to choose in order to achieve my goals.  
Thank you for taking the time and energy to read for me.  
Many blessings to you.
Mo

Message read and understood.

It does appear from what you are telling me that there are other options to be considered than getting the promotion or leaving to find another job, especially when you say that on the whole your present one is not really so bad after all. A stable company combined with a reasonable level of job security for it's employees is effectively becoming an endangered species these days, or an exception rather than the general rule?

Good luck with your possible promotion,

eye_of_tiger