Eclectic Witch

There are only about a million different books and websites dedicated to the Tarot.  Without looking far one can find computer generated readings, instructions and one word cheat sheets, Qabbalistic correspondences and Egyptian references as well as instructions on how to play Tarot card games.

Wikepedia also has a decent breakdown section for symbolism and variety of design origins, if you are interested.

There are traditional decks and myriad modern decks.  Some so far from the Traditional Tarot as to be unrecognizable except for the number of Major and Minor Arcanum.  One of my favorite decks for simple beauty and elegance is The Gilded Tarot.  Another of my personal use decks is the MotherPeace Tarot, which has round rather than the traditional rectangular shaped cards.  The MotherPeace Cards include myth and archtypal imagery that I find useful for meditation and for divining things beneath the surface and on a phychological level.

Which brings me (in my ’round about way) to the focus of this post and the articles for subsequent Tuesdays. Despite the many books, articles and sources I have mentioned above by which you may study tarot, learn or memorize Tarot, and despite the fact that I have a freaking ridiculous number of Tarot books on my Occult shelves, I believe that the very best way to learn Tarot and to learn to open oneself to the creative process necessary to read Tarot, is to develop a personal relationship with the cards.

Every single one of them.

The way to do this is to spend time with them.  To consider and meditate on them.  To listen to the story they have to tell you, and then to tell a story about them.  If you’d care to join me in this journey through the Tarot, pick up a deck that you absolutely love.  A deck that sings to you, shouts to you in it’s rich beauty and symbolism. Another deck I simply couldn’t live without is Crowley’s Thoth deck.

For now, put the book away.  We’ll start with The Fool (despite what Uncle Al would have us do).  Look at your card.  What color jumps out at you first?  What is the first image or symbol or detail of the card that speaks to you?  Do you get an overall impression from the image as a whole?  Do you get random (seeming) flashes and thoughts?  Does your mind or vision keep returning to a certain area or thought pattern?

Write these things down.  Any and all thoughts that come to you, regardless of what you think The Fool should mean, or what you have learned or studied of it.

Beginners will most likely have an easier time of this than those who consider themselves well versed in Tarot. If you have memorized someone’s book interpretations, you are going to have to reach outside of your logical mind a bit to find the card’s personal message for you, but keep trying.  It will come.

Keep the card and a small notebook either with you, or in a conspicuous place where you will see and consider it often for the next week.  If you have very busy days, place it next to your bed and consider it a bit before sleep and upon waking.  Jot down notes.  Think on what the image is telling you.  What relevence does it have in your life today?

If the meaning seems to shift and change from day to day, go with it.  Are you getting a repeat message from the card?  Something important that you need to hear?  Or is there a new message every day as your world shifts around you?

Resist the temptation to turn to the book for your answers.  Write your own stories.

On Monday evening, or before you return for the next edition of Tarot Tuesday, see if you can put the week’s meditation on The Fool into a story; a story of your life for the last week. After you have done this, go ahead and crack the book.  Now, after you’ve pulled every bit from the card that it has to offer you directly, now is the time to turn to definitions of symbolism, Qabbalistic correspondences, and traditional interpretations.  See what this adds to your understanding of the card and your story.  Edit and add to it as appropriate.  Follow your heart-

I’ll be adding a Tarot Tuesday Page.  Come back to either this post or to the Tarot page and share your thoughts with Ol’ Auntie.  Remember:

Yer Ol’ Auntie wants to know!!

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