Tarot Tuesday

And for something a little different today I present "The Tarot Game"

I found out about this on Aeclectic Tarot  and decided to purchase it for an upcoming Tea and Tarot night tomorrow.  There will be a range of people from those who know the tarot well and those who are in the various stages of learning it and so rather than making it perhaps a little intimidating by getting those who aren't secure in their knowledge to do readings for others I thought it would be fun to get this game and allow everyone to do readings for themselves based on their own level of expertise.  I think it will offer a great way to get to know people better also (assuming you have a group that is willing to get a little personal). It can also be used as a personal meditation tool as well which I will play with at a later date when I have more time (laughs)

So I will be 'test driving' this tomorrow night, I'll come back here and update how it all went.

UPDATE:

After having had the pleasure of playing this now with a group of four other lovely women I have to say I definitely recommend it as an alternative to a typical tarot reading and a way to get the know the cards.  So here are some notes/opinions:

• The instructions are a little vague on the whole use of real decks...but you can figure it out pretty quickly.
• The descriptors of the 3 levels is a little misleading (really I take it as pick a level from 1-3 based on how deep a reading you want/are capable of doing).
• Play this with people you know and trust - some of those questions can take you to deep, dark, and just damn personal places so you want to be able to feel comfortable voicing your answers and having others question and prompt.
• As a meditative tool/way to learn to do your own readings it looks like it has a lot of potential.
• The activity cards are interesting, though sometimes perhaps a little odd/irrelevant.

Overall, I'll play it again - both with a group and by myself.  I think you get as much out of it as you put into it.

Tarot Tuesday

The Fool

(Source: http://amethysttarot.com/interview-with-the-steampunk-tarot/#)

Generally speaking the fool is about the beginning of a journey - the start of new things, infinite possibilities.  With this thought comes the idea of a warning, of keeping your surroundings in mind lest one step off the edge, fall and end up looking like a 'fool'.  It is about keeping perspective and some reality around you while following this path.

The journey is usually something that is anticipated with some enthusiasm and a feeling of being free.  It is a childlike excitement, one that must be tempered with wisdom from some source (a friend, your inner voice, etc).

Of course as with all readings of cards one must take into account the question, the surrounding cards etc in making an interpretation, these are just generalities.

Tarot Tuesday

The Tarot Spread

What is a Tarot Spread?

A spread is a pattern in which you lay out your tarot cards for a reading.  Each position is assigned a category designed to help give clarity to the question being read.  The idea is that by seeing where the card falls we gain a better understanding of the particular meaning of that card.  One can also look at the relationship between cards within a spread to gain further clarification as the ‘story’ is laid out before you.

How many cards are there in a spread?

You can have a spread that ranges from two to all 78 cards, though most commonly the spreads involve between six and 15 cards.

What are some of the different spreads?

 Some of the most common are the Celtic Cross, Three Card Spread, Five Card Spread, Ellipse Spread, The Mirror Spread, The Mandala Spread, Zodiac Spread,

The Celtic Cross:

The Celtic cross is made up of 10 cards.  Six cards make the circle cross and four make up the staff.  The cross section is made up of two separate crosses, the smaller cross in the center (The heart of the matter) and the larger cross (you past to present, conscious to unconscious)   The Staff relates to your life outside of the immediate situation.

Card 1&2 relate to the immediate situation – the present (card one) and the challenge (card two)

Card 3 provides your foundation, the root of the issue/question.

Card 4 is your recent past

Card 5 is related to the outcome, the potential development.

Card 6 is your immediate future

Card 7 is your inner feelings that are affecting the situation

Card 8 is external influences that are affecting the outcome

Card 9 is about hopes and fears or an overlooked factor.

Card 10 is the Final outcome

Tarot Tuesday

The Minor Arcana

The minor arcana deal with the every day.  Unlike the major arcana that relate to overarching themes and universal concepts the minor arcana is about the feelings and actions that exist in everyday life.

There are 4 suits that make up the minor arcana – Wands, Cups, Swords, Pentacles.  Each suit relates to and element

Suit	Element	Aspects	Why
Cups	Water	Feelings, Emotions, Relationships, Psychic	Cup is our emotions, social interactions and ceremony. Round, open, receptive
Pentacles/Coins	Earth	Finances, health, material world	Solid material, business matters (coin), the human body. Solid, Material, exchange
Wands	Fire	Passion, inspiration, action, creativity	Creative project, passions, energy, social networking Natural, fuel, crafted
Swords	Air	Mental, intellectual, communication	Sword cuts through air – we battle with our intellect.  The sword is our mind Battle, enforcement, authority

Source: http://www.mistertarot.com/ten-things-you-didn%E2%80%99t-want-to-know-about-tarot-3./

Further structure is given when each suit is the divided up with the number Ace to Ten and the court cards of King, Queen, Knight, Page.

Ace – The ace card is always positive.  It represents the themes of the suit, it is the start, the spark.

Two – Union, growth, balance and harmony.

Three – Vital forces, creative success

Four – Structure, rules, practical, strength

Five – Change, challenge, battles, motion

Six – Beginning of success, peace, rewards

Seven – Inward journeys, intuition,

Eight – Opportunity, abundance, cause and effect

Nine – Nearing the end of the cycle, reassessment, spirituality, deeper levels

Ten – Overview of accomplishments, rejoice in your successes.

Page (Princesses) – Child: adventure, possibility, spontaneous approach, a seed planted.  Related to the element of Earth.

Knight (Princes) – Youth/Teen: Movement, spirit and energy.  Related to the element of Air.

Queen – Maturity & Feminine: inward focus, relationships, self-expression, creative force.  Related to the element of Water.

King – Maturity & Masculine: Authority and control, mastery, direct, practical, how-to. Related to the Element of Fire

Source: http://tarotinateacup.wordpress.com/2011/01/01/haindl-tarot/

Tarot Tuesday (A day late)

The Major Arcana

Today’s focus will be the major arcana – one of two parts (the other being the minor arcana) that make up the tarot deck.

There are 22 cards within the major arcana and, as mentioned in my previous post, these cards are symbols of the collective knowledge of human experience.  They are archetypes.  For those unclear on what that is - according to Jungian psychology an archetype is a thought or image that exists in all individual psyches based on the collective unconscious ideas that we have inherited, such as The Warrior, the Hero, the damsel in distress etc.

Source: www.jamesricklef.com/MY_MAJORS.html

Back to the cards.  Each card is given a name and a number.  Now these names sometimes change depending on whose deck you’re working with, but more often than not they stick with the same ones.  In a reading you will give the major arcana more weight than you would the other cards, they are the soul lessons you need to work on or pay attention to.

The idea that the cards of the major arcana form a unit is not a new one, one of the more popular views is that the cards show the journey of inner growth with each card a representation of the various phases and experiences one must go through to attain wholeness.

Cards of the Major Arcana:

0 – The Fool (Innocence, new path, leap of faith)

1 – The Magician (Self control, taking charge, teaching skills)

2 – The High Priestess (Intuition, spirituality, letting go)

3 – The Empress (Abundance, fertility, home)

4 – The Emperor (Father figure, stability, discipline, leadership)

5 – The Hierophant (High education, religion, higher self, advice)

6 – The Lovers (love, compatibility, emotional success, choices)

7 – The Chariot (Control, balance, Triumph)

8 – Strength (Inner strength, courage, self discipline)

9 – The Hermit (Cautious, time out, letting go, learning from the past)

10 – Wheel of Fortune (Luck changing, turn for the better, gambling)

11 – Justice (Legal system, truth, control, injustice)

12 – The Hanged Man (Self sacrifice, holding back, seeing things from a different perspective)

13 – Death (a new start, changes, transformation)

14 – Temperance (moderation, spiritual growth, words of wisdom)

15 – The Devil (Slave to something, abuse, jealousy, greed)

16 – The Tower (wake up call, taking a fall, ruin and renewal)

17 – The Star (Goals, guidance, daydreaming)

18 – The Moon (Intuition, something hidden, something to overcome)

19 – The Sun (Happiness, positive, success)

20 – Judgment (Decisions, results of choices, problems to overcome)

21 – The World (Successful completion, karma, travel, growth of the soul)

Source: tarotdame.blogspot.com/2011/todays-cards-were-very-practical.html

Tarot Tuesday

First, an update.  
I have purchase the Steampunk Tarot and I love it.

Yesterday I went through the deck on arrival and picked out a few cards that lept out at me.

Then when I got home I went through each of the cards to see how the meanings and imagery came through for me.  I have to say that for the most part they resonate with me rather well.  There are a few that I am struggling with but on the whole I find reading their meanings and symbolism to be quite easy.  I have yet to cleanse and consecrate them so I don't know how they are going to work with me but thus far we are off to a good start.

History of the Tarot:
The exact history of the first tarot cards is unknown - but it is believed that by the 15th century decks were popular enough to be commissioned by patrons.  Of course it wasn't until the late 18th-19th centuries that we begin to see the tarot come into 'mainstream' use when it is picked up as a divination method by scholars of the occult.

How I see them working:
For a lot of people there is a great struggle with many of the numerous divination techniques out there simply because they cannot understand how a simple object can deliver a message of the future, and the tarot is no less subject to this skepticism than throwing dice.  For many the tarot is just a set of pretty cards (and don't get me wrong there are certainly decks I'd love to own for their imagery more than their divinatory abilities) but tarot goes beyond that.

The images of Tarot tap into the unconscious, they are a method by which we can project and interpret things we subconsciously know but could not otherwise tap in to.  Of course the images of the tarot would not be quite so successful if they did not come from the collective conscious.  They tap into universal themes and needs and use archetypes to present a message.

So essentially you are tapping into two different sources when you read the tarot - your own subconscious and the collective conscious.  This is why two people can read the same card and get slightly different message from them.  While you may pick up on the collective imagery you also apply your own understanding to the scene laid out in the card.  It is also for the reason that relying heavily on the book that comes with the cards is not the best method to understanding them.  By all means read the book, it is always interesting to see where the creator was going with certain choices etc, but I recommend looking at the card and trying to find your own meaning first.

Tarot Tuesday - April 10th, 2012

I thought I'd start this process by introducing the two decks that I own and the two that I hope to own very soon.  This way as I work through the tarot there is a reference point for my cards.

The Decks I Own:

First: Legacy of the Divine Tarot.  This is a fairly new deck for me and I haven't worked with it a great deal.  It has some beautiful imagery that resonates well.  I purchased it to help learn tarot because my other deck isn't quite the traditional deck that most are used to.

Second: The Druid Craft Tarot.  This was the first deck I ever owned.  It was one of those ones where I walked around the store over and over picking it up and putting it down until finally my husband got sick of it all and purchased it for me.  I love this deck.  It isn't quite your traditional deck and the cards are slightly oversized.

The Two I Covet:

The Steampunk Tarot: by Barbara Moore

Shadowscapes Tarot: Barbara Moore