Creativity, self development, self help

Image via WikipediaThe Fool can be a useful card to develop attributes that you don’t already have. If you’re unwilling to take business risks, even when you know you should, meditate on the Fool. Visualize yourself at the top of a cliff, and then imagine yourself stepping off into space. You will realize that you can fly.

Because of the flying aspect of the Fool—he’s about to launch himself into space—this card has a lot of shamanic energy. It’s the medieval trickster and joker of myth. The con man, who plays the old shell game. How many Fools have you known in your life? If I were doing a reading to learn more about a new client or business contact and the Fool came up, I’d be wary.

If the Fool came up in a reading where you wanted everything to go calmly and straightforwardly, take care to dampen down the Fool energy. Match the card with Justice, or the Hermit, and meditate on the cards in tandem. You want the energy and the enthusiasm of the fool, but you want that energy to glow, rather than to spark.

You can use the Fool whenever you want inspiration, or when you want the courage to take risks; whenever you want the feeling that you’re just starting out in life.’    Look at the small dog, he’s important. He represents the Fool’s instincts. He shows that the Fool is not in touch with his intuition. If this card comes up in a reading for you regularly, as yourself how you’re stifling your instincts. What are you refusing to look at, to see?

If the Fool comes up in a reading in combination with the High Priestess and the Moon, it would be obvious that there was a lot that was being hidden from the querent, whether the querent was you, or someone that you were reading for. The combination could indicate industrial espionage. The querent should look at all her security procedures carefully. Perhaps it would be a good idea not to travel alone. Any threats made against the querent should be taken seriously.

However, in general the Fool is a cheerful card, showing a lot of youthful energy.

Image via WikipediaSymbols
Young man, the sun, yellow, orange, white, small dog, brightly colored clothing, laurel wreath, cap, feather, bag, staff/ wand, white rose, yellow boots, cliff, mountains.

The card
Here’s Jack setting off to the markets, to buy a cow for his mother and coming back with a handful of beans; here’s Parsifal setting off for magical Camelot; here’s a band new soul entering the world. This card is bright, humorous, and cheerful. We feel the warmth of the sun, and hear the barking of the small dog. The rose gives off a wonderful fragrance. We’re full of the energy of youth.

Look at the card for a moment, and try to identify the emotions it arouses in you. Remember that this is subjective; whatever you feel is right, there is no wrong answer. Do you feel hopeful and enthusiastic? We’re all the Fool, each morning of our lives, as we get up ready to face a new day and have no idea what that day will bring. We never see the chasm yawning at our feet. The Tarot is a way for us to see the result of our careless steps in advance, however, sometimes it’s better to take a leap of faith, and just step off the cliff.

The Fool is likely to appear in your readings whenever you’re starting something new—like a new business. It can indicate the start of an entirely new cycle in your life, or it can indicate the end of an old one. Whenever the Fool appears, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re a fool to be starting your new business, or whatever new project you’re involved in. That depends on the surrounding cards. If the surrounding cards are uniformly negative in context—if the Fool is surrounded by a lot of Swords, or The Tower, or The Moon, it would mean that your new business  was in serious trouble. You should find out what is causing the problems and work to rectify it with all speed.

Sometimes it’s not possible to avoid problems however.

All the major arcana cards are archetypal in nature. They indicate that the situation is largely out of our control.

The Fool can also be very literal. For example, one morning I was rushing to leave the house. I picked up a big stack of magazines to take out to the recycling bin. I stepped off the back step, but my foot hit the step and I slipped. I found myself lying on the concrete.

My two dogs gathered around me in concern. You could see the shocked expression on their faces: they were as surprised as I was. I thought I’d broken my ankle, but it was only a sprain.

I thought the accident had some significance, so to find out what it was, I asked the cards. I drew a card, and it was—the Fool. I had to laugh. It was a clear expression of what had happened: I was too busy thinking about everything I had to do that day to pay attention, so I stepped off the cliff.

All the elements of the card were there: the step, I was carrying something heavy, the dogs, the bright sunlight—a tub of geraniums growing beside the step.

So cards which indicate accidents, the Fool, the Tower, the 10 of Swords, can often be literal: take care, because you might be about to slip on a cosmic banana peel.

Sprained ankles notwithstanding, I enjoy receiving the Fool in my readings. The card is similar in spirit to the Joker in the ordinary pack of playing cards; you can use the card to stand in for other cards.

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.