Let The Tarot Speak To You

I can remember, like it was yesterday, the first time I picked up a deck of Tarot cards and it spoke to me. As I recall, it was the Four of Swords card that was my first introduction to the deck. What it revealed to me at the time was daunting. “You don’t do this often enough…and we are going to show you how,” the card said.

I was surprised and intrigued! So, I pulled another card. This time it was one of the Major Arcana cards. Death, to be exact. This time the card said, “Changes are coming, and you must do it and not be afraid. We will get through this together, but you have to let go of the old in order to embrace the new.”

This, mind you, was all happening during my first Saturn Return around age 29. I already had ‘all hell breaking loose’ as it was. I’d left a ‘good job,’ which I hated. My mother did not understand and, since she worked for the government, even called her friends at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)…because I was thinking of leaving town. I actually did leave, but turned around and came right back, but that’s a story for another day.

So, my Saturn Return was complicated enough, and it was about to get even more so. Talking Tarot cards, indeed! But so it was that they spoke to me. And that was how I got to know each of them, along with much further reading and studying, of course. But nothing can give you the true feel for a Tarot card, but a Tarot card itself.

The cards continued to communicate with me throughout the years, and eventually they decided it was time I share what they say with others. So, here we go with three of my favorite examples of what they have to say.

Tarot helps us look within ourselves to understand our emotions, the reasoning behind our words and conduct, and the source of our conflicts ~ Benebell Wen

The Eight Of Swords

If I’m doing a Tarot reading and I say, ”Well, don’t go getting all Eight of Swords on me now,” it means don’t get yourself all twisted up, you already know the truth. Firstly, the Suit of Swords deals with truths of all sorts. They cut through to the heart of things. They don’t like to fool around or waste time.

The Rider-Waite version of the Eight of Swords shows a figure seemingly unable to move. She is bound and blindfolded. How can she see the truth? Ah, says the card, notice she has her feet in the clear water below.

In Tarot, water represents the subconscious. She may think she cannot see, nor move, and in fact this may be so. But she can rely on her subconscious to lead her out of the twisted, would-be nature of this card, because you must let the chips fall as they may…into the soothing ‘don’t worry’ energy of the Nine of Swords.

The Eight Of Cups

Another fine example would be the Eight of Cups. The Suit of Cups deal with all things emotional, including love and feelings. If I am doing a Tarot reading and I say, “Well, it might be time to consider doing an Eight of Cups action,” it means that although you may still have in your life what used to work for you emotionally, you clearly need something more.

Perhaps it is time to leave the situation and strike out on a  new emotional journey. Time to dress up and paint the town red! It’s time to move on.

The Five Of Pentacles

One of the cards I found most challenging to understand initially, was the Five of Pentacles. Indeed, the fact that I always worried about money just may have had something to do with just why it was so challenging! I would literally get anxious just looking at it. I would get irritated and apprehensive. In short, I would do everything the two figures depicted in the card would do…which they were not supposed to do.

“Why exhaust yourself,” the Five of Pentacles would whisper to me. “Come in from the cold. Aren’t you tired from the heavy, self-imposed load you carry all the time?” And once I decided, just as the card depicts, to come in from the proverbial cold, I became a lot happier. I suddenly went through that doorway to happiness, freedom and new opportunities that had been right there all along. Only we can choose when we don’t want to suffer any longer. The doorway to a new life is always there, waiting for us to take the first step.

The cards give you images and symbols to focus your vague intentions and transform them into action. Your will is the magic ~ Theresa Francis-Cheung

The Four Of Swords

You may be still be wondering, whatever did that first card, the Four of Swords, mean to me and did I eventually come to terms with it? Well, yes, I did. I heard it say that any Tarot card which gives us a problem to learn is exactly what we need to learn! The Four of Swords says ‘relax.’ Rest assured that everything will be okay. You’ve come through a hard test by leaving the energy of the Three of Swords behind, and now it is time to rest and take a break.

I’ve never been good at resting. My mind tends to go a million miles an hour, before it crashes every half hour and revs back up again. Resting and sleeping are not easy for me. But just as prayer is faith in motion, so is resting. Sometimes we have to just sit back and let the chips fall where they may.

In closing, always listen to your intuition, and what it whispers to you regarding your Tarot deck. It does not matter which deck you choose to use, although when learning to read the Tarot I do believe it is best to learn from the popular Rider-Waite deck. It will makes it easier to understand the more complicated symbolism of the cards once you’ve mastered Pamela Colman-Smith’s illustrations.

Like the Eight of Swords says, you already know the truth. You don’t need to see. Your subconscious will show you and lead you. In today’s world of followers, likes and influencers, it is good to follow your own mind and gut. The Tarot can talk you through any crisis in your life. All you have to do is listen.