tarot deck
Can Anyone Read The Tarot?
During this past week alone, several people from different walks of life have asked me this very question. Yes, anyone can learn, but as some of my Tarot students have shown, it’s the passion you have for Tarot that makes the difference, and that can turn someone into a reader with a difference.
Tarot readings can be used for one’s personal growth only, or for doing readings for self and others. Often individuals learn the Tarot of their own volition, paying particular attention to its imagery and symbolism, as they develop their skill with practice, practice, and more practice.
Once they feel they can trust their higher self and their spirit guides, and feel they are being directed to the symbols and imagery in Tarot, which will kick start the required information to be revealed, they will be confident to do Tarot readings.
A good teacher or mentor will always encourage a student to be guided by the way the Tarot talks to them, and not just by learning ‘parrot fashion’ the many meanings each card may have.
It is the language of symbols which helps us more easily tune into the unconscious mind, especially when there is not always time available to spend many hours doing psychic development, and going within and meditating before a reading.
Many Tarot readers work with various spreads, or layouts, to help them answer specific questions and to define events, timing, important influences and important people in the questioner’s life. Tarot helps us find clarity as to the direction in which we are headed and even helps identify blocks which may lie ahead.
I have in my collection at least fifteen Tarot decks, but one or two would suffice for most people. I just love the way talented people have been able to bring Tarot to life in their own Tarot deck design, using their own imagery, shapes and color.
Yoga And The Tarot Archetypes
When I’m not doing psychic readings, I enjoy engaging in activities that support a healthy lifestyle, such as Yoga and Herbalism. Although I spent many years training with Yoga masters from around the world and I am a certified Yoga instructor, I continue to learn more each time I get onto the mat.
While practicing the other day, I found myself thinking about the Tarot cards while in a particular yoga posture. It was the asana known as the Hero’s pose, or Virasana. The pose involves kneeling or sitting in between your bent legs.
As I was sitting in this stretch, I was wondering how the posture got its name, which comes from the Sanskrit word vira meaning ‘hero.’ It occurred to me that a hero was someone who had to think of someone else or others in that moment more than themselves. When we are pushed to our edge, in that moment of vulnerability, it makes us stronger. The same humility can be found in certain Yoga postures.
Then the Emperor card from the Tarot deck came to mind. The Emperor in a reading can show a ruler or leader who is strong, confident, and who guides others. Might there be an ancient connection with Yoga and the Tarot?
I then began to think of other Yoga postures and how they might correlate with the other Major Arcana cards in the Tarot.
The first that came up for me was The Hanged Man. This iconic card features a figure hanging upside down from a tree. Hanging from a tree in this way would certainly make one see the world from a different perspective. Interestingly, the headstand pose in Yoga, Sirsanasa, aims to create mental balance and physical poise. Continue reading
Connecting With Your Team Of Spirit Guardians
You have a ‘squad’ of spirit friends you can count on and talk to when you need support. Our spirit helpers, be they guardian angels, guides, animal spirits, ancestors, or departed family members, are there to look out for us. They want to make our lives better.
So, how can you get to know them better? Because these beings are of the spirit realms, it’s not quite as simple as calling a human friend or sending a text, but the channels of communication are definitely open.
The first thing you need to do is get to know their names. If they are the spirits of loved ones or pets, of course, they already have a name you know them by. Use your intuition to receive the names of your guides and angels. All you need to do is ask. They will reveal their name to you when you are ready to receive it.
It is also important to understand that our spirit guardians communicate through various unspoken messages and signs, such as patterns of recurring numbers, lyrics of a favorite song, or seeing the same patterns in nature, such as cloud formations or a particular animal. Pay attention to these special signs. In our world, it’s easy to become distracted and overstimulated, but our guardians are always sending these subtle messages if we pay attention.
Engaging in your daily spiritual practices is necessary to connect with your spirit guides. When getting to know angels, for example, an angel card oracle deck is a useful tool, or a Tarot deck to link archetypes to individual guardians.
For animal spirits there are also lovely card decks, which can be very useful in identifying your totem of guardian animals. You can also keep your departed pet’s favorite items after they’re gone.
Empower Yourself With A Tarot Meditation
The Tarot is so much more than just a method of fortunetelling. Tarot can be used as a tool for meditation just as much as it is an aid for divination.
For example, you can meditate on one of the cards in the Major Arcana, to connect with that specific card’s archetypal energy. Connecting with the card’s energy can not only help you find the answers you need, but more profoundly it can also invite that energy into our life.
Every archetype can awaken within us certain a type of personal power. The Magician can inspire us to become more quick on our feet, as he is mercurial in nature. The High Priestess connects us more deeply with our intuition and higher self. The Tower can bring an immediate closure to a negative situation we cannot stand anymore, and so on.
Let’s focus on The Empress card with a more detailed analysis, to demonstrate how we can utilize her in meditation.
Symbolism Of The Empress
The Empress is the number 3 card in the Major Arcana of the Tarot. She is the archetypal queen and symbolizes all the riches of femininity. She is related to the planet Venus and the zodiac sign of Taurus, representing affectivity in all its fullness.
As an earthly partner of the Emperor, her archetype represents the earthly plane achievements and pleasures of the physical body, including motherhood. There is also a connection between the Divine Feminine or Divine Mother archetype, represented by this card, and the Earth as Gaia, our nurturing mother.
How To Read Angel Cards
I love reading angel cards and consider them as one of my most trusted tools for giving precise and professional forecasts. While I have been a professional psychic for more than a decade, the beauty of oracle cards is that no specialized training, talent, skills or experience is required to begin using them effectively.
You don’t have to be a professional diviner or gifted psychic to use oracle cards in your personal spiritual practice. With a deck of cards anyone connect with the angelic or spirit realm as soon as they feel ready to do so. However, to begin reading angel cards as a part of your spiritual practice, you may want to consider the following guidelines to get the most out of your reading experience.
Choose Your Cards Wisely
There are many places you can buy angel cards both online and offline. Wherever you decide to purchase them from, ask yourself whether or not you feel drawn to a particular pack. By doing so, you will be allowing the spiritual realm to guide you, intuitively, to the best divination tool for you.
Connect With Your Cards
Once you have purchased your angel cards, take a look at each one and shuffle them, gently, to get a ‘feel’ of what they are saying to you. Most cards come with a full set of instructions. However, should an angel card suggest something different to you personally, than what the guidelines state, then always go with your intuition first, as this is how spirit will guide you.
Divination Tools 101
Every psychic has a different set of gifts and abilities, and because of this different psychic tools work better for different individuals. Let’s take a closer look at some of the more familiar divination tools used by readers today.
Tarot cards date back to the Renaissance and represent different archetypes and symbols. Each card pictures a specific individual or action, and the cards are used in different layouts, or spreads, to provide insight and meaning. Usually, a specific question is asked, to which the cards help provide an answer.
Angel oracle cards are similar to the Tarot. As the name suggests, each card features a different image of angels and archangels. Angels cards help us to communicate with our spirit guardians, as they look out for us. Each card typically has a short message, which help us figure out what our guardians are trying to say.
Crystals are very popular metaphysical tools. They come in many types and colors, and each has a unique set of properties, For example, rose quartz is used for love energies, and hematite for strength, and so on. No two crystals are alike. They can be used to channel, intensify, deflect, or purify energy sources, depending on an individual’s needs.
Many practitioners have an entire toolkit of just crystals. The crystal ball is often seen in depictions of psychic readings. A crystal ball is used to scry, in order to practice seeing the past, present, and future. They are also useful in finding missing persons or objects.
Communicating With Your Spirit Guides
Each of us has spiritual guides on our side, whether we know it or not. These beings, whether they are angels, spirits of loved ones, or even animal spirits, are there to comfort, guide, nurture, and assist us.
Because we can’t see them, their communication tends to be more subtle, and they are always trying to give us messages in small ways. But we can also connect directly with them. However, because we can’t call them on the phone, or send them a quick text, there are other methods we can use to reach out to them.
The first method I often recommend is to use a set of oracle cards. The Tarot or Angel cards work well for this purpose, although there are many other oracle decks available these days. Choose one that feels right for you.
Ask your spirit guides a question, the more specific the better, and then choose a card randomly from your oracle card deck. This will serve as the answer you seek. Let your intuition guide you when interpreting the card’s message.
You can also do a three-card spread, with one card each to represent the past, present, and future. Learning more about the meanings of your chosen cards will help you better interpret communications from your spirit guides.
Another method you can use to communicate with your guides is to dowse with a pendulum. A pendulum is any solid object connected to a string, chain or cord. As with oracle cards, you will want to find one which you resonate with, and feels in tune with your personal energy frequencies.