Tarot
from Tarot.com
Tarot is a time-honored tradition of using a set of cards to gain insight and achieve greater control over issues involving relationships, opportunities, and life changes. Over 1,000 years old, with roots that go back 3,000, Tarot is a repository of ancient wisdom. Interestingly, our modern playing cards are a subset of the Tarot deck (and it's possible to read them too!).
The history of Tarot symbols is shrouded in mystery. Tarot is believed to have come out of China, India or Egypt. Modern tarot cards date back to 14th Century Spain, Italy and France.
A tarot deck consists of 78 cards that you lay out in any one of a number of spreads. Each card is symbolic of an energy or spiritual truth, its relevance depending upon its position in the spread. There are so many possible outcomes that tarot readers spend decades mastering the meanings of all the cards in all the different combinations. Books are one resource, but can only help so much.
Using the power of Synchronicity, Tarot taps both the subconscious and the superconscious Mind, the center of our psychic abilities. Anyone can become a good tarot reader. But a gifted reader of Tarot is far more than someone exercising innate psychic abilities. An appreciation of the power of the archetypes contained in the images on the cards demands a classical understanding. By bringing you this element, Tarot.com lets you give yourself good readings right off the bat and will lead to more accurate intuitive abilities over time.
Tarot is excellent for receiving clarity on problems or issues that logic by itself simply can't handle (most of the important ones in life!). Relationships, negotiations, work dynamics, office politics, family matters, spiritual well-being.
Notes on the TAROT
by Patrick Mulcahy
The tarot is a pictographic language system that facilitates communication between our personality consciousness (Nephesh) and our soul consciousness (Ruach).
The symbols are akin to dream images which are also sometimes employed bythe soul in its attempt to communicate with the personality.The effectiveness of the communication depends upon the degree of ourconscious attunement with our intuitive faculty. This is an organ of the soul whose energy is Love-Wisdom.
Study of the tarot (and other symbolic systems) prepares the mental body for conscious contact with the soul. As we program our mind with the archetypal imagery of the tarot, we come to understand the 'wisdom-essence' of the symbols. We then become open to all manifestations and reflections of those essences as they appear to our inner vision (in dreams and visions) and to our physical eyes (in the various forms that they may assume in our environment).
When we are conscious of these essences (and open to their myriad possible forms) then we are able to view the events that occur, and the shapes that appear in our personal world, as an ongoing communication between our soul and personality, and between macrocosm and microcosm. (Our soul waits for us to recognise its presence, purpose and power, and for our acquiescence to
allow it to become the co-creator of our personal reality.) We are then able to cooperate on a conscious level with the Will aspect of our soul.
The occurrence of synchronicitous (meaningful) and serendipitous (fortunate) events/coincidences in our lives are major evidences of soul communication. These can be noted and meditated upon to great advantage.
So, by learning (via the tarot) to utilise the Love-Wisdom faculty (or intuition) of the soul, we become able to be guided by the Will-Purpose faculty (or atmic body) of the soul. Success in this is a great and beneficial magickal achievement for one and for all.
Because the tarot is a tool for spiritual development, it is wise to consecrate the cards in the Name of the Highest, and also to dedicate their use to the Love and Will of the soul. You may wish to compose a prayer and design a short ritual for this purpose. As you perform it, see the cards bathed in brilliant white light. For maximum effect, repeat the ritual once per day for seven days.
It is important to be in a meditative state when consulting the tarot. This can be achieved by the recital of a short invocation with an accompanying visualisation before the cards are shuffled.
Wonderful links
Want to learn the tarot?
A most excellent site with free lesson downloads! A favorite place of mine!
has any type of deck you can imagine and fabulous photos that you can really SEE! Really worth a look if you are in the market for a new deck and want to see what you are buying first
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