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.
