The signs and symbolism of the 78 cards didn’t anything to me at age 12 or 13. But they sure were pretty.
Tarot Cards – a gift from my mom for the journey through life – The Fool’s Journey – discovering the keys of the cards.
You have to live a little to understand the messages – AND you have to let go of the idea that ANYONE can accurately predict the future. The cards are maps of the potentials and possibilities. Each one has layers upon layers of interpretation – therein lies their beauty…. there’s something for every life.
Whatever is BIG (karmic) or SMALL (daily business) and everything in between shows up somewhere. Our answers are within. The cards are the mirrors to REFLECT them… and they do, when we’re willing to ask and accept the picture.
When the Tarot Life Series (12 Books) came into my life a few years back, I was a Fool – who’d been through the ringer – jaded and frayed – but still skeptically optimistic.
The approach in the series is UNIQUE, because of the use of what the authors call a Gated Spread –
“a linked sequence of tarot readings whose questions are determined by the results of real-world activities..”
Tarot Life Book 11 – Your Keys to Freedom, Katz & Goodwin
It was time to hold up the mirror and look for SOMETHING to light my way. These books enable you to take a true, radiant learning journey into yourself. The knowledge and insights you gain in one book are used in the next book. It’s like walking down a path collecting breadcrumbs for the next stop. Another plus is that each book has spreads that can be “re-purposed” – practiced outside of your work with the books. Yay!!
I’m not always the most disciplined person! Completed books 1 to 8 from about 2014 until 2018. Ran out of steam a few times, but life still CRUMBLED, SPARKLED and sometimes ENDINGS were JUST.
The sun was shining and I wanted to “make hay”!
Pulled my self together and completed Book 9 – The Roadmap to Unity – which pulls the keys we collected in Books 1-4 together to form our own personal Mandala. In Books 1 -4 we charted a path to our Destiny, discovered our decision makers, weighed options and confronted our blocks. Beautiful!
Book 9 led us to the UNITY CARD – the card which helps us put these currents together. Mine is DEATH and the message is: “Your path to unity is to escape fear and engage life.”
Book 10 – Becoming the Real was a real joy – brought together the knowledge (Gates) from Books 5 – 8. We rode the lion, connected to service, found equality and “died to ourselves.” YES, the titles were as intriguing as the spreads and exercises. The main goal is to discover our Cascade card, but the optional exercises for “riding the Tarot currents” are also a fascinating look at the movements of the Sun and Moon from an astrological perspective. They represent the “hidden” and the “illuminated” (High Priestess and the Sun), the pairing of our conscious and subconscious. The main exercises are designed to help us “speed up” the process of mapping real life to the Tarot cards in our everyday experiences. We try to see as much Tarot in our moment-to-moment experiences as possible. At the end of the month our Cascade card emerges.
We arrive at Book 11, “Your Keys to Freedom” – equipped with our Unity and Cascade cards, we’re ready to create our “vision ladder”. Where does it lead? Among other places to Book 12 – The Depth of Divinity.
2020 – The doors locked, pushing us all inside. When I got their, the Tarot Life Series was still there waiting to be finished. My posts here are taken from various days of the journey. Sometimes stopping, sometimes starting, but always moving through the layers of self and Self. A Fool’s Journey.
Beads and Whiskey 