Tarot Strategies for Life Change

Tarot and the Subject's Mindset

There is an uncanny link between mindset and the success of intuition. 

Dr. Judith Orloff and others point out that it is very difficult to tap into your intuition when you are tense or highly stressed. And if you the kind of person that is reluctant to trust impressions that are difficult to confirm on the spot, you will have little success getting useful information from your intuition. 

A relaxed open mind is the first step to accessing intuition. It is also the first step in tuning in to your spirit guides and working with the Tarot.

Even the most highly skilled psychics and mediums will tell you that they cannot access a person who chooses to block himself.

So it is highly ironic that the very people who try so hard to 'test' the reader, or who flaunt their skepticism find it so easy to find evidence to back to support their skepticism. And those who come to a reader with an open, relaxed attitude enjoy a rich and valuable experience.

It is as if the Tarot cards were offended by the skeptical querent's lack of respect. The upshot is that each subject has an experience that reinforces their perception.

There is a certain logic to this, but it makes it hard on the reader who has to handle a skeptic in a situation such as a party where they are expected to read everyone who comes to their table.  

In many ways, the cards that pop up in a Tarot spread reflect the mindset of the person being read. If the querent is focused, the cards will be, too. If the querent's mind is scattered, so too, will be the reading.

Tarot is a tool to access intuition. Like all tools that work primarily by using the 'right-brain,' Tarot's processes defy logic.

The right-brain is the realm of the imagination and it speaks through the language of symbol. It is through the right brain that you are able to access your intuition.

Unlike beginning readers who tend to rely on book definitions, more confident and experienced readers will use their knowledge of book meanings as a starting point and them allow their intuition full reign.

But to do that, they need to be able to tap into the energy of the querent. Each reader has his/her style of working. Some readers that use an interactive approach need the active participation of the querent to stimulate their intuition. Others are able to tune in psychically.

But no matter the style of reading, every Tarot reader needs the active cooperation of the subject to deliver a successful reading.

Mars Or Uranus - Who Really Rules The Tower Card?

Going back to the days of Aleister Crowley and others who submerged themselves into the occult, the individual Major Arcana cards have been assigned to specific planets.

As a student of astrology and the Tarot, I do not always subscribe to the traditional correspondences. For example, to me, the energy of Uranus is a much better fit to The Tower than Mars. 

The argument for making Mars The Tower’s ‘ruler’ is that The Tower’s edifice, described as some as the Tower of Babel, represents man’s hubris and a structure of lies.   

The Tower image shows lightning striking the crown on the top of the tower edifice, the crown being false materialism and the lightening bolt, the flash of truth striking down the edifice and violently displacing the crown. 

Mars represents ego well. Mars is dignified in Capricorn where its ambition is transformed into concrete structure. And the flames emanating from the tumbling structure is consistent with the symbolism of Mars and its sign, Aries.

Lastly, Wald Amberstone, co-founder of The Tarot School, likens the card’s image as a representation of a phallic symbol at the time of climax. 

Certainly this is Mars. 

But the lightning, the sudden flash of awareness, the crack as the structure tumbles, are hallmarks of Uranus. 

Arthur Edward Waite in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot describes the preceding card, The Devil, as “the fall into the material and animal state, while the other (The Tower) signifies destruction on the other side.” 

Uranus’ energy is depersonalized. It is completely a product of the intellect and the lightning bolt is its hallmark. 

The sudden bolt of lightning describes the operation of Uranus as anyone who has experienced a transit of Uranus can testify. 

Uranus is the first planet discovered that is too far away to be seen by the unaided human eye. For centuries, astronomers assumed that no planet extended beyond Saturn, hence that planet’s association with limits and boundaries. 

Then in 1781, astronomer William Herschel discovered Uranus with the result that the prevailing world-view of the Universe was upended much in the same way that Uranus transits result in upset and breakthrough on a societal and personal level.

Uranian energy is a bolt out of the blue, coming from somewhere outside of our individual selves like the bolt of lightning from above that upends The Tower and its crown. 

In my view, while Mars is a good descriptor of the Tower in the card, Uranus better describes the actual energy of the card.

Thoughts?

Tarot Magic

I never fail to be amazed at the synchronicity of the Tarot and the matter at hand. I have read Tarot cards for many people, primarily in a party setting. Yet even some of the people who come to my table see Tarot as no more than as a parlor trick, are able to receive valuable insight.

I can't offer any logical explanation why the random choice of cards from a shuffled deck should have any more relationship with the client or even party guest than the price of tea in China, but it does.

Time after time an insight that speaks directly to the client's issue pops out. This is the magic of the Tarot and it is truly magic.

I've come to realize that the cards that appear are exactly the right cards. The complicated part is figuring out why. 

That is because no selection of cards that make sense unless we know the question and the life context of the client.

Often the client's actual question is not the spoken question. Then the spoken question is not the Tarot answers. 

Then the skill of the reader is necessary to tease the underlying question from the client. 

This is one reason readers who read for themselves sometimes run into difficulty; they are too close to their situation to know exactly what they want to know or what they need to hear.

But readers who read for themselves have a huge advantage of knowing more than anyone else about their life context. 

After all, Tarot images are an elaborate system of symbols. And each symbol has a whole set of meanings. It is not possible to know which is applicable to the client until it can be plugged into context.

The best way to understand this is by example. The Universal Waite 4 of Cups, a card showing a seated figure under a tree with his arms akimbo with 3 cups in front of him and a fourth offered by a hand from a cloud, appeared in one reading for a woman contemplating whether she should have a fourth child.

Yet, for another client, the 4 of Cups, this time reversed or upside down, symbolized additional responsibilities she did not want to take on.

Same card, two different clients, two very different interpretations. And neither interpretation is a traditional book definition of the card’s meaning.

My personal style is that of an interactive reader. That is the exchange of words and energy between the client and myself helps me to hone in on the cards’ message.

It also helps when both reader and client are relaxed and open with each other.

But when the ingredients come together, the results are indeed magical.

The Fool, the New Year, and a Fresh Start

So we indulged in that ritual in which we celebrate the throwing out of our calendars, more commonly known as New Year's. 

It is a fresh start. Beginning on January 1st, we begin a new tax year, we go back to zero on our insurance deductibles, and we have an opportunity to begin again.

This January 1 begins a new decade--the reviews of the passing year in news periodicals were intensified by ruminations of a decade that many saw come happily to a close.

This has certainly been a tumultuous time.

This would be a good time to adopt the spirit of the Tarot card, The Fool. He blithely steps out to heed the call to adventure even if he doesn't know where he is headed. 

The truth of the matter, much of life is a journey into the unknown. Perhaps this is why so many rely on all manner of oracles, be they meteorologists to tell us whether to carry an umbrella, stock market gurus, economists, actuaries, you name it.

Travel light and be nimble. We are in for exciting times.