Entries from June 2008 ↓

Image via WikipediaWe are part of the world, and of everything in it. each breath we take, we take in oxygen which has been given off by plants. We exhale, and our breath is taken in by plants. Every act we perform has ramifications far beyond ourselves. Working with the Tarot helps us to see our place in the world. It’s a healing process, because we also come to see and understand how we have been wounded by the world. In healing ourselves, we heal the world.

Take out your Tarot deck, and sort the cards into 2 stacks. First, the cards which you think are pleasant enough: those cards which you either enjoy, or which draw no real reaction from you at all. In the second stack, put the cards which disturb you. These are the cards which you recoil from, like Death, or the Devil, or those cards which you love, like the World. Both sets of cards are equally important. However, you will learn a great deal from those cards which disturb you.

The work we do with the Tarot activates our subconscious mind. We can’t know what is going on down there, and we don’t need to know. When we work with and study the Tarot, we begin the work of integration: we release energy which has been locked up by our unconscious repressions, and we can use this energy in our life. The integrative work is done in silence; the best way we can help this work to take place is by relaxing, and looking at the cards, especially those cards which disturb us. It’s a way of working which is similar to the work which people do with their dreams.

Working with the cards in this way helps us to transform our life. As we transform, the cards seem to transform with us. Over time, the cards which repelled us begin to appeal to us, and those cards which appealed to us, will lose their attraction.

The Death card repels many people, at least initially. It’s a card that reminds us that everything is impermanent. Nothing lasts. It reminds us of the people we have loved, who are now dead. The card shocks us. However, the card can also be a comfort. It reveals that it really is darkest before the dawn.

Think of yourself ten years ago. What happened to the person you were then? You changed. That person of ten years ago is dead. The preoccupations she had, the loves and the enthusiasms, are either gone, or have changed in vital ways. Over longer periods of time, we change even more. Think of yourself as you were when you were five years old. Where is that five year old now? You can’t say that you’re still the person you were at five, if you’re now 50.

Over time, we come to see the Death card as a beginning, as a constant becoming, rather than as an ending. Look at the bones in the Death card. They are the centre, life stripped to the essentials. And life goes on, with the seeds of the old, which transform into the new. If we understand the Death card well, if we internalize the meaning of the card, we become comfortable with the vast cycles of constant endings and beginnings.

Look at the Death card. Close your eyes, and feel the emotions which it arouses in you. Feel where in your body those emotions are located. In your chest? Your throat? Your belly? Focus on the emotion, and try to intensify it. as you do that, you’ll find that the emotion will change into something else.

What do we learn from the cards which attract us, and those which repel us? We learn to become whole. We learn not to be afraid. We feel our fear intensely, and as we feel it, so it changes to something else.

Take out your Tarot journal, and write down the date. Now write down the five cards which disturb you most, and the primary emotion which they arouse in you. In years to come, you will see that those cards which most repelled you, will cease to do so. You will either come to like them, or view them as neutral. This is inevitable, because you will change. The cards can help the process of change and integration.

We all have wounds, and just by looking at the cards, by being willing to be with the hurt parts of ourselves, those hurts are transformed by love.

How is this helpful in business? Business is life. To be successful in business, you need to be able to see yourself, and the situations you find yourself in, clearly. You need a sense that try as you might, you don’t  have as much control as you think you do. Events and situations will transform, and you will transform. Laying out the cards will give you the sense that your life makes sense.

You’ll be able to enjoy your work more, as you understand more about yourself, your motivations, and your life. You’ll be healthier in body, mind and spirit.

Image via WikipediaIf the quantum physicists are right, then we all have everything we need within us. How to reach this inner knowledge is the question.

With the Tarot cards, you have 78 supporters and advisors at your service. You have your own cheering squad which will help you to do whatever you want and need to do. Not only that, but they will help you to do it quickly and well. And they work cheap.

For example, on days when I have a full schedule, I look to cards like the Chariot and the World to help me through it. The Chariot because it is inbuilt energy, control and determination. The World, so that I will use all the tools at my disposal, and so that the Universe will help by turning all my traffic lights green.

This really works. You can try it yourself. Take the Chariot and the World from your desk. Take several deep breaths, closing your eyes as you do so. Open your eyes and look at the two cards. Look at the cards as a whole, and also look at the details. Imagine the Chariot life-size, right in front of you. Then imagine the Chariot moving towards you and becoming a part of you. Do the same with the World: with your eyes closed, imagine the World life-size, and then merging with you.

How do you feel? As you were doing the visualization, you may have had definite bodily sensations. If you didn’t, don’t worry about it. Whatever happened is the right thing for you.

Another way to use the cards is to get instruction from them. Let’s say that your sales figures for this month have been less than stellar. It’s the final week in the month, and you want to boost your sales so that they exceed your monthly quota.

Which of the cards could help you with this?

You can choose one of the cards face up: just look through the deck until you find a card which looks as if it may help. Or, choose a card face down. Shuffle the deck, and trust that whichever card comes up is the card that you should be working with now.

When you’ve selected your card, look at it for a few moments. Then close your eyes, and imagine the card life size. Now, in your imagination, walk into the card. Just walk right into the scene on the card. Interact with the figure on the card. Tell the card inhabitants what is happening in your life, and explain what you need. The figure, or figures, will give you advice.

Note: if the figure advises you to do anything which you consider morally wrong, challenge the figure. Ask for the Sun to appear. When this happens, the figure will always transform. If it doesn’t, stop your meditations for the day. The figures which appear in your meditations are personifications of your own psyche, at least initially. When you’ve been working on yourself for many years, you make contact with elements which are beyond your own psyche: they are definitely not parts of it.

In this way, each of the card will act as an advisor to you. That’s not to say that each time you enter the cards that you will meet the same people—you will develop your own group of advisors, who will become your spiritual friends. Our time, this group will change, as you transform into the person that you were meant to be.

Image via WikipediaEvery Tarot aficionado has their own favorite deck of Tarot cards.

My long-time favorite is the Universal Waite Tarot, which has lovely soft colors.

From a review:

 The soothing, pastel coloring, done so beautifully by Mary Hanson-Roberts, brings out all of the delicate intricacies of Lady Pamela’s famous drawings.  Each card now seems ready to step out and guide you along Tarot’s path of wisdom.  The facial features and their expressions are more readily decipherable now, showing the sorrow, pain, joy, happiness, greed, wisdom, resignation and anticipation of each figure.

Each esoteric symbol on every card can be seen and better understood.  Subtle nuances, such as the patient, waiting gaze of the Hermit as he watches for others seeking knowledge; the healthy stalks of grain growing before the Empress and the fresh green and gold in her starry, Earth Mother crown; the despair on the faces of the Tower’s victims; the weary, but still resolute face on the IX of Wands; the pensive wariness of the IV of Cups; all of these and more now leap out at the reader.

It’s a lovely deck, a joy to use.

Image via WikipediaLife is a process of cycles. Using a symbol tool like Tarot is a way of finding out which cycle is in operation in our life, and where we are in each cycle.

The Tarot cards cover all forms of experience, and existence as we know it. When we draw a card, the cardboard and the symbols on it become a clear mirror in which we see ourselves and our situation.

Buy a set of Tarot cards.

Also, buy a blank, unlined notebook to use as your journal. You want the pages to be unlined, because you want to be able to create pictures in it. A few pens of  various colors are also useful, as are coloring pencils or paints. Even if you decide that you will write your journal on a computer, do get the blank unlined notebook for your drawings.

You can’t draw? Nonsense. If you can draw a line, a triangle and a circle, you can draw. We’re not selling your drawings as works of art here. They’re not meant to look good. They’re meant to exteriorize your feelings. Let me give you an example.

I’m going to suggest that every morning, when you come into your office, before you start working, you sit down and draw a Tarot card so you can get in touch with your subconscious mind and use its help throughout the day.

The card you draw is your Daily Card. As you calmly and quietly contemplate the card, a number of feelings may come up. You take your journal, turn to a blank page, and start doodling.  Just draw a doodle, using as many colors as you wish, or just use a pencil or a pen.

Doodling is fun. In fact, keep pads and pencils around your house, so you can doodle as the feeling strikes you.

L.J. Read of The Enchanted Mind, wrote:

“It is well established that much of our creative expression is birthed in the unconscious mind. To use creative expression and solutions in your everyday life, it is necessary to dip into the unconscious at will. Doodling is one way of doing this. Doodling allows the unconscious to render in symbolic expression. Symbols have universal as well as personal meaning. When you are stuck for an answer to a problem or looking for creative innovation, the technique of doodling will unleash the hidden symbolic powers of the unconscious mind.”

By no stretch of the imagination would you ever call your doodles works of art. They’re not meant to be. They can be as ugly and as meaningless as you wish. The thing is, they won’t be meaningless. They are you, communicating with you.