As the summer winds down, I am starting to think about my fall classes. I still love the feeling of going back to school in the fall! So I am getting pretty excited about teaching the Tarot again.
I highly recommend learning the Tarot for all my psychic students. It’s a fabulous way to develop your psychic ability. When I teach psychic development, I recommend that my psychic students learn a divination tool. Tarot, Rune, I Ching- something like that is the best daily practice for psychic development. And I have a strong personal preference for the Tarot, since I started working with it over 25 years ago.
Learning to understand and interpret the Tarot works the same muscle that we use when we get spiritual guidance. Our guides speak to us through the “back of the brain” which is more symbolic and archetypal then the front part of brain, which is logical and analytical. I notice that for many people, this is the most difficult part of psychic development.
It takes practice to strengthen our ability to interpret the symbolic world. Working with the Tarot is like learning to interpret our dreams, in fact that works the same psychic muscle.
Don’t be afraid of the Tarot! So many people are. They have a bad rap for being evil or part of witchcraft and nothing could be further from the truth. They are actually connected to the old Western (Hermetic) Mystery Schools and contain a lot of ancient Mystery School wisdom passed down from the ages. They are full of knowledge and wisdom and have a lot of astrology and the kabbalah mixed into them. (But really ZERO Satanism, or evil witchcraft, I assure you…)
But sadly, people see the Devil or the Death card and freak out. Those are two very powerful cards, but they have to do with very normal parts of our spiritual evolution. For example, The Death card is all about transformation and change. It CAN mean actual death, but mostly it means that a part of you is dying, or a phase of your life, or something is changing. There is also a humbling aspect to this card. It’s a reminder that no one is immune, king, cardinal, women and children all fall under the hooves of Death’s horse. (Death waits for no one…) If you pull this card, ask yourself what is dying in your life right now?
The Devil is about being tempted to go off our spiritual path, usually by the temptations “of the flesh,” if you will. You might be tempted to go off your path by the powerful lure of power, sex and money. The Devil stands at the crossroads of our lives, asking us to choose in each moment between the “sins of the flesh” or the harder path of the Initiate. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with power, sex or money. Except when there is! When people get a little spiritual power, we always end up in the choice point. Always. And the devil is there, like the last temptation of Christ to test us. So the Devil card is just a heads up about that. Not a call to sacrifice small children, I assure you!
And it’s not all bad. Here is the Star. It’s a card of great healing. The soul is calling you on a healing journey and healing the emotional parts of us is so important. Water in the Tarot always represents the unconscious and emotional parts of us so this healer, a woman has one foot in the water and one foot on the ground. She balanced in the realms of water and the earth, which is what healing is all about! If you pull this card, you are in a powerful healing cycle!
When I teach the Tarot, I use the traditional Rider-Waite deck since it’s the best deck to learn on. The symbolism is very rich in these cards. Every little thing in the card has meaning. The number of leaves on the branch, the position and number of stars in the sky, the colors used in each card- these all have a specific meaning. Many artists make beautiful decks, but they change the imagery too much and the cards lose their potency.
Please let’s not confuse angel cards with the Tarot. The Tarot has a very specific structure to it. There are twenty-two major arcana cards, plus the four suits of the “pip” or minor arcana and the court cards. If it doesn’t have this structure it’s not a Tarot deck. Angel cards are great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a whole different vibe and has a different purpose.
One of my students told me that she was afraid of the Tarot because she felt that they were too “dark” and she preferred the Fairy Mermaid Angel deck she was using. I understood what she was saying, but that ”darkness” is something that I really appreciate about the Tarot. It is designed purposefully to represent real life, which isn’t always fluffy bunnies and unicorns.
The pip cards represent our every day life, so lots of the cards are wonderful- like “Victory!” “Homecoming” or “Journey Away From Sadness.” And some of them are tougher, like “Heartbreak,” “Oppression” and “The Dark Night of the Soul.” We need the full range here, because those are actually things that happen to us for realsies.
Many of the new cards that are available only deliver the good news, which is fine. If I am having an inner child moment, all I want is reassurance that it’s all going to be ok. In that case the inner child in me really appreciates my Unicorn-Rainbow- Fairy-Angel deck. But other times, I want the good, the bad and the ugly. I want the truth, the real deal. And those days, I reach for my Tarot deck, cuz I know it doesn’t pull the punches.
Many people feel overwhelmed by how many cards there are and it seems a difficult system to learn, but it really isn’t. There is a pattern to it, and when you learn the pattern, the cards are very easy to read. And very powerful allies in life! So here are a few little tidbits to help you understand them.
- Tarot does NOT rhyme with “carrot.” (Shudder…) “Tar-oh” please!
- There are three parts to the deck.
- One has to deal with everyday life. (The numbered “pip” cards. Also called the “minor arcana.”)
- One is about all the people in your life. (The Court Cards)
- And one is about spiritual/soul stuff and represents the hand of your own soul in your life. (The Major Arcana)
- There are NO “bad” cards. There are just cards that deal with everyday life stuff, which is sometimes hard.
- Angel cards, Mermaid cards, Animal cards are all wonderful but they are not the Tarot, even if they say they are.
- It’s best to learn on the Rider-Waite deck and use a good book. Or better yet, take my class!
- There are four suits in the minor arcana. The cups are about emotions. The pentacles are about money and health. The swords are about power and the wands are about action and inspiration.
- And there are meanings to the numbers of the cards too, so once you know the meaning of the suits plus the meaning of the numbers you can intuit the meaning of the card.
- Plus the pictures on the cards are FULL of meaning. Every little object on the card means something important! This is why when people change the pictures on the cards, it waters down the meaning, at least for purists like me!
- Once you learn the parts of the deck and understand the four suits, the number and how to read the pictures, the deck is really easy.
- I got my start as a psychic doing card readings when I was really young! It gave me the confidence to do readings professionally and clients love having something solid to look at.
So there you go! I hope you start using the cards to increase your psychic chops, it really works! If you are interested in my class, here is the link. I only teach it every couple of years, so now is your chance!
