78 Notes to Self: A Tarot Journal

We Are Woman

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:08:00 +0000

The world has never yet seen a truly great and virtuous nation because in the degradation of woman the very fountains of life are poisoned at their source. ~Lucretia Mott

I've been a feminist as long as I can remember. Thanks to my mother, who encouraged her daughters to be independent, strong, and socially conscious of sexism, I have, despite my varied intensity on the subject over the course of my life, always had a deep and abiding passion for the social equality of women. I had a brief crush on a boy when I was 12 years old who asked me in all seriousness, "You don't really believe in all that Women's Lib stuff you talk about, do you?"
"Of course I do!" I retorted, "Why would I say that stuff if I didn't believe it?" All of a sudden, he didn't seem that attractive to me anymore. Mom would blast Helen Reddy's song, "I Am Woman" on the stereo and we would sing loudly and pump our fists:

I am woman, watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my loving arms across the land
But I'm still an embryo
With a long long way to go
Until I make my brother understand

Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to I can face anything
I am strong
I am invincible
I am woman!

Who else but a woman would use the analogy of an embryo? I liked this verse most of all because it spoke of joining together with men to create a more equal society. Because as long as I've been a feminist, I've also loved men. Or maybe I am just fascinated with men as being so different from myself. Regardless, I believe in a society that simply accepts people from the inside out without regarding them as inferior based on physical characteristics.

I have not lived consistently with my feminist convictions. I married a man who was extraordinarily sexist and violently abusive towards women. I am the man, I have the mustache, and so I tell you what to do! No joke, he actually said that. He viewed us as "equally matched" in our fights, "You have your tongue, I have my fists. We're equal." However, in true feminist form, I sought the support and help of other women to leave him and his abuse, and along with my female lawyer soundly conquered him in court.

You can bend but never break me
'cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
'cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul

While I won't go so far to thank my abuser for it, my experiences with him certainly served to deepen my convictions about equality for women and particularly to work toward freedom from violence in our relationships with men. I went on to work with domestic violence victims and survivors, hosting support groups in my home and creating and maintaining a website for victims.

Even when I was neck-deep in fundamentalist Christianity, I wasn't content with the more conservative interpretations of women's role in society. I would counter those views with what I believed to be the authentic message of Christianity: mutuality. I did the requisite Biblical research and made a sound case, but received the censure of my church's pastor who said I was unfit for service because I believed and espoused that women could and should serve as clergy. In leaving the church, I was freed from the task of having to prove what I believed to be obvious: men and woman are different, yes, but functionally equal. I wondered what men were afraid would happen if they admitted this. I also wondered why they refused to take advantage of the vast resources of half the population. Just as my pastor relegated me to organizing women's tea parties rather than Bible studies, many men seem content to ignore the treasure-trove of creative insight and intelligence in their counterparts. What does it benefit them to do this?

In the long run, Women's Liberation will of course free men -- but in the short run it's going to COST men a lot of privilege, which no one gives up willingly or easily. ~Robin Morgan

It really chaps my ass that women have had to fight for what should be naturally acknowledged as true. The Greeks were very much into dualistic philosophies and they acknowledged that both masculine and the feminine traits were to be found in everyone. The problem was these characteristics were ascribed value judgments and those deemed "feminine" were seen as less appealing and needing suppression. But here's the problem with dualism: it neglects the whole. The Sanskrit word Tantra transliterates as the weft and warp (duality) of the weave (nonduality), the directions of the threads that create cloth. If one of these dualistic pairs did not exist, neither would the cloth. Equality doesn't exclude the differences or polarities, it includes them, accepts them, and weaves them together to make a whole -- whole person, whole society. Suppression or devaluing one side of the duality makes for a very unbalanced, weak "whole," or rather, something that is not whole.

The Empress in Tarot is representative of the feminine part of the duality, while The Emperor represents the masculine. Neither is greater, together they form a pair. The Empress comes first in the deck, interestingly, but that doesn't mean better. If it means anything, it means every man was born of woman. While the feminist movement has enlightened many, we still have entrenched ideas about feminine things being inherently "lesser" than masculine. While women are commended (and simultaneously ridiculed) for exhibiting traditionally masculine characteristics, men are rarely applauded for exhibiting their feminine side unless they do so in a distinctly masculine manner. A man who bakes cakes is a "Cake Boss" whereas a woman who bakes is, well...a woman.

We've begun to raise daughters more like sons... but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters. ~Gloria Steinem

The Empress is the archetypal "mother" but not all can identify with that. Instead of viewing her as a noun, try instead to view her as a verb. In a commentary written by feminist Gloria Steinem, she explains:

"Think about it: As a noun, mother not only excludes half the human race, but is also limited by fertility and age and intention...
As a noun, mother may be good or bad, willing or unwilling, on welfare or rich, worshiped or blamed, dominating or nurturing, accidental or chosen.
Perhaps that’s why the noun mother is so easily taken over by profanity; or by war, as in “the Mother of All Bombs;” or by war-makers who honor Hero Mothers for birthing soldiers.
But when mother is a verb—as in to mother, to be mothered—then the best of human possibilities come into our imaginations.
To mother is to care about the welfare of another person as much as one’s own.
To mother depends on empathy and thoughtfulness, noticing and caring.
To mother is the only paradigm in which the strong and the weak are perfectly matched in mutual interest." ( Mother As A Verb by Gloria Steinem)

Another funny thing about archetypes and dualities is that they aren't really meant to describe actual men and women, but only traits and characteristics, with no value judgment placed upon whether these characteristics and traits are better or worse. They simply are. Men express "mothering" naturally and as easily, and many women really suck at it. The mistake is made when we assume that feminine archetypes belong to women and masculine archetypes belong to men. They don't, they are meant to be balanced within each of us and therefore balancing our societies.

Patriarchy is the result of too strong an emphasis on the masculine part of the duality, too much value given to that particular warp of the cloth. While it has its benefits, such as strength, survival, profit-making, and logic, it is lopsided on its own. Technology and business are examples of masculine archetypal structure and energy and while extremely beneficial, when they ignore the feminine elements they become destructive and ultimately self-destructive. Only when feminine archetypal energy is integrated into these institutions will they thrive in balance with nature and with our own long-term survival.

To me, feminism isn't about who's better or who screwed everything up. It's not about forcing men to shoulder the blame for everything wrong with the world, even though, come on guys, you've made the lion's share of decisions for quite some time now, so take responsibility. It's about awareness and what the hippies used to call "consciousness raising." What does it really take for people, both men and women, to realize we need balance?

Those Henny Penny Days

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:46:00 +0000

Do you ever have one of those days when you feel either an overwhelming anticipation of something really good coming your way or, conversely, an overwhelming dread that you're going to get kicked in the ass really hard? And you spend your day looking for it, waiting for it, wondering what is going to happen, but then nothing out of the ordinary happens. What the hell is that? Emotional chemistry going a bit wonky? Too much caffeine? The feeling reminds me of the story of Henny Penny, a fable about a fear mongering fowl that runs around proclaiming, "The sky is falling!" for no apparent reason. I asked tarot and got: 10 of Cups.

Emotional Overload

Actually, I think this card explains more than that. This card is often interpreted as a "scene," as if it were on a stage and what appears to be happy, happy, joy, joy on the surface may not be reality. It may, in fact, be set up to produce an emotion in you, but it's not really happening. These may be actors playing a part in a show. While we often experience all manner of emotions vicariously through watching a play or a movie, we understand objectively that the action on the screen or stage is not "real." Maybe that's what those anticipatory feelings are, too.

When I experience a moment of intuitive wisdom, it is usually quite specific. I feel directed to do something, say something, call someone, research something. It's generally aimed at a very individual subject, person, or activity. Even when it is a bit vague, it usually centers on something specific, such as when you get a "bad feeling" about driving that particular route to work, or when you meet someone and they just make the pit of your stomach lurch. The feeling is focused on that one person or event. With the dread or anticipation, it's not focused at all. It's all-encompassing, like anything could happen out of nowhere.

I had a strange intuitive experience about two months after 9/11, after the World Trade Center was attacked. I woke up to a beautiful blue sky and thought, "The sky looks just like it did on that day. Another plane will go down in NY today." What? Excuse me? And while it wasn't at all connected with the incident on 9/11, an airplane did indeed crash in Queens, NY that day. As I heard the report on the news, I wondered why the hell I knew this ahead of time and what difference did it make that I did? My point is, it was a very specific knowing for a very specific event and not a generalized feeling of dread, although dread accompanied the knowing. It's quite different than the overall, nebulous, "something bad is going to happen today, I just know it" kind of feeling.

So the 10 of Cups may be saying, "Yes, you're feeling this, but it's not exactly 'real.'" It's a lot of emotion, but not based in reality. It's also not a great indicator that you were intuitively sensing something because it's easy enough to find something good or something bad to pin it on if you just scan the evening news. So what does one do with it? Again, I asked tarot: 6 of Cups

Accept it. It's probably some old emotional connection from your past or some association with a past event. I occasionally experience Post Traumatic Stress responses that stem from an abusive relationship in my past. Similarly, the emotions I experience during those moments are not based in present reality but are triggered by something in the present that reminds my brain of a past event and the attending emotions flood in even though they are not appropriate to the present situation. Our subconscious mind picks up on the smallest detail and nuance of our everyday experiences and it does this unnoticed by our conscious awareness. There was likely some subconscious trigger that occurred which set off the emotions you now feel flooded with, but with no specific connection to a present situation. So, unless I can securely attach the feeling to something specific, I just breathe deep and get on with the day.

Psychologically speaking, this type of experience, if it is experienced frequently, is labeled an "anxiety disorder." Even if the anticipatory feeling is an expectation of something good, it still heightens one's awareness and produces the same anxious physical effects in the body. If this happens to you on a regular basis, there are treatments for it. I'm talking about the random experiences that only happen once in a while. Either way, though, the 10 of Cups suggests it may be an overproduction of emotion-producing chemicals in the brain. Psychics and empaths report feeling these things routinely and suggest "shielding" oneself against the onslaught of others' emotions. Wherever the source of these emotions, they usually serve no benefit to you and are better managed however you best manage them. For an empath, it would be to recognize the feeling as "not yours" and disowning it. For someone with PTSD or anxiety, it would be to recognize the feeling as belonging to the past or not rooted in the present and disowning it. Either way it involves a releasing of feelings that you know aren't connected to your present reality. Even if it is truly a psychic experience, so what? Unless it is specific there's nothing you can do with it anyway, so why allow the experience to overshadow your day?

As a tarot reader, it's pretty important to be able to distinguish the intuitive from the emotional. If one is an empathic intuitive, there's yet another layer involved distinguishing between one's own emotions and the emotions of someone else. The Delphic aphorism to "Know Thyself" is very apt here. Before approaching the Oracle, one must have a good grasp on one's own emotional and psychological experiences in order to correctly decipher the "truth" from the oracle's often confusing utterances. Knowing oneself is also a guard against gullibility and from taking (or giving) the wrong advice. I would also add "Trust Thyself." Once I learned to take the time to distinguish between intuition and emotion, I was better able to trust my intuition. Everyone's intuition speaks to them in a different way. The manner in which my intuition "speaks" to me is usually through phrases or words that come into my mind which may or may not be accompanied by a physical sensation or emotional response. Usually no emotional feeling is present. The intuitive thought just "is." Without the attending emotions, it can be easily brushed aside or left unnoticed. I've had to practice noticing them. When the intuitive thought comes with emotions, it tends to bother me until I do something about it and there's more sense of urgency because the emotions are nagging at me. How your intuition speaks to you may be very unique, so it benefits to pay close attention to how you experience it, how your body feels, and what, if any, emotions accompanied the thought. With regular practice and conscious awareness, the random emotional spillage of those anxious days can be managed and dealt with as soon as you recognize the difference.

Out With The Old, In With the New

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:07:00 +0000

Dedicating this wonderful, soulful song by Florence and The Machine, "Shake It Out" to all of us for this new year. It keeps replaying in my head. I feel it has significant messages to forgive oneself, to allow new experiences, to embrace life without fear of making mistakes, to go ahead and make mistakes, to let the old and useless go, and let life happen. Let's not carry all the weight of yesterday into this new year. Shake it out. Let it go. Maybe that message is just for me, but somehow I doubt it. I think many of us "carry that horse around."

I couldn't help but notice many Tarot references in this song as well. How many can you find?

Regrets collect like old friends
Here to relive your darkest moments
I can see no way, I can see no way
And all of the ghouls come out to play
And every demon wants his pound of flesh
But I like to keep some things to myself
I like to keep my issues drawn
It's always darkest before the dawn

And I've been a fool and I've been blind
I can never leave the past behind
I can see no way, I can see no way
I'm always dragging that horse around
Our love is pastured, such a mournful sound
Tonight I'm gonna bury that horse in the ground
So I like to keep my issues drawn
But it's always darkest before the dawn

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out,
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out,
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off

I am done with my graceless heart
So tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart
Cause I like to keep my issues drawn
It's always darkest before the dawn

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out,
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out,
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off,
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off

And given half the chance would I take any of it back
It's a fine romance but its left me so undone
It's always darkest before the dawn

And I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't
So here's to drinks in the dark at the end of my road
And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope
It's a shot in the dark and right at my throat
Cause looking for heaven, found the devil in me
Looking for heaven, found the devil in me
Well what the hell I'm gonna let it happen to me

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out,
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out,
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off

The Tarot Choir

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:14:00 +0000

I just don't get it. Furthermore, I think the reason I don't get it is because I have no desire to get it. Kabbalah and Tarot. When I've read about the connections, the overlay of Tarot on to the Tree of Life, what I comprehend is: "Ten spheres, sefirot, 22 paths, Kingdom, blah, blah, blah, Wisdom, blah, blah, blah, tifereth, Malkuth, blah, blah, blah..." and "isn't that amazing, the insights we get from the Kabbalah and how it applies to tarot?" Blank stare. Blink. I really hate it when I feel this way about what is perceived to be a pretty important aspect to a subject I love. I love Tarot and Tarot history and divination and symbolism, and yet when it comes to the merging of Tarot and Kabbalah, I am at a loss. Same thing happens, to a lesser degree, when I read about Astrology and Tarot. I really want to read Corrine Kenner's Tarot & Astrology book because I think it will help clear up my fog-brain on this system.

And then there are the other Tarot practitioners who combine other systems with Tarot that are really cool and fascinating, but somehow the fascination doesn't grip me at all. Sometimes I wonder if I'm a lame Tarot reader because I'm not really all that interested in researching all these nifty side roads and offshoots. I probably shouldn't even call them side roads because the development of Tarot as a modern tool of divination has its roots in the esoteric systems of those who ascribed Kabbalistic associations and astrological associations to the cards. This is why I feel a bit conflicted about my internal resistance to these systems. I feel as if I may be missing out on some important stuff.

Then again, maybe not. A wise woman once said to me, "All God's chillun got a place in the choir." So, since we all have a voice to share in the chorus that is Tarot, maybe it's not a big deal that I don't combine these other systems with Tarot. Maybe that is another person's place in the choir. I can't imagine trying to be a one-woman band. I just don't multi-task that well. I'm very glad there are many different approaches to Tarot because without them, the song just couldn't be sung as well. I'm thankful for innovators, for those who find new ways to combine the systems, people like Scott Grossberg who developed The Vitruvian Square which is a system unto itself but which can also be overlayed or merged with just about any other divination system. Mary Greer is forever highlighting new and culturally interesting tarot relevant things on her blog. Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin of Tarot Professionals have been instrumental in bringing historical tarot discoveries to light, most recently Abiding in the Sanctuary, a collection of 23 tarot images by AE Waite and artist JB Trinick that have not been seen publicly in a hundred years. Then we have Donnaleigh De la Rose, the radio personality Tarot's primo podcast, Beyond Worlds. As a sometimes co-host, I am amazed at Donnaleigh's ability to pull off such a seamless, welcoming, informational, educational and FUN radio show almost every week of the year. She's so good you can't even tell how much work she puts into it, but trust me, there is a great deal of preparation and management that goes on behind the scenes and then during the show, she's busy multi-tasking, sending links to chat room attendees and guests, keeping the flow of conversation going, etc. The really cool part about all of these players is they each bring something unique to the Tarot table. AND, no one stands alone. Scott Grossberg, for example, consulted with and features Enrique Enriquez in The Vitruvian Square. Enrique does incredible things with language and symbolism and the Marseilles Tarot and is even the subject of a documentary. Mary Greer wrote the preface for Abiding in the Sanctuary. Those are just a few examples of the collaborations that go on every day in the Tarot community.

Just like a choir, we all have a voice that adds to the song. And whether we stand alone and sing solo or choose to harmonize with other voices, it all becomes a symphony of brilliance and beauty. Every one of us has something to add and we don't have to be all the voices, just one. I don't need to master Kabbalah, astrology, numerology, or anything else to be a strong Tarot reader. However, if I ever want to learn, I know exactly where to find the information. In the Tarot Choir.

No Longer Switzerland

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 22:54:00 +0000

This is just messed up. I can't even fathom what kind of fucked up moral compass would provoke someone to do this, but because I'm a member of the Tarot community, this shit needs to be talked about. I considered keeping silent because I don't really want to give this person any undue attention (and believe me, attention is not due this person now). Like any community, the Tarot community has its clashes and conflicts, drama and backstabbing, cliques and alliances. But, by and large, the people who comprise the Tarot community are very, very nice to one another, almost to a nauseating degree, so it's kind of shocking to hear or read things that are mean-spirited. I'm not surprised, though, really. Human beings are what they are and group dynamics are pretty much the same no matter what banner they gather round. You're bound to have your assholes, abusers, grandiose egos, etc. But when it comes to these conflicts I am usually Switzerland. I try to stay as neutral as possible because, well, I honestly don't give a shit who said what to whom or who is being an immature jerk. I do, however, care when someone crosses the line from petty middle-school behavior to abusive, threatening, potentially illegal actions.

Janet Boyer has been a reviewer of tarot products for a long while. I, personally, don't care about what other people think about decks and books so I rarely read her reviews. I think whether or not someone likes a product or finds it usable is entirely subjective. What I find distasteful in a deck another reader loves, so a review is, well, just another opinion. She has been known to be brutally honest in her appraisals, which is great. I appreciate that and have even warned those who have solicited me for reviews that I would do likewise. I have pissed off at least one deck creator for honestly expressing my opinion about her deck on a tarot forum. However, there is a distinction between being brutally honest and being a shithead and sometimes Janet has been known to cross that line into a biased, personal vendetta. Again, whatever. I am Switzerland.

The other day, Janet crossed another line and I feel angry, disgusted, and no longer able to be Switzerland. She published a short story on Amazon for Kindle called The Ones I Refused To Leave in which she thinly veils the identities of herself and others that she despises in the Tarot community. If it were just a scathing screed of petty grievances, I would still be Switzerland. But the story is about how a tarot reviewer murders a podcast show host, clearly Donnaleigh de la Rose, of Beyond Worlds, simply because the reviewer doesn't like her, and shits on her grave. The murder takes place at a tarot convention that sure seems to be the Readers Studio. She also insults other major contributors to the community while she's at it. As I said, if this were just an expression of petty grudges and backbiting, I'd ignore it. The story is a piece of shit anyway. Quite suitably, the final scene describes in detail the feces she leaves on the woman's grave. It's not well-written, it's not compelling from a literary standpoint. The problem? It is a thinly disguised threat of lethal violence against another nonfictional, very real person. There are laws against this. While Janet may be able to hide behind the "it's fictional" defense, I call bullshit. I'm calling her out for this harassment of someone who she has every right to dislike but no right to threaten. We're all entitled to our opinions, but when you cross the crazy line to threatening murder, "fictionalized" though it may be, you've gone too far.

UPDATE: It appears the link to Ms. Boyer's short story no longer exists, but she has published this blog entry in reference to the story.

Tarot Hypochondria

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 18:45:00 +0000

I recently read about how doctors are getting frustrated with patients who gather medical information about their symptoms via the Internet. This TIME article by Dr. Zachary Meisel illustrates an all too common scene in today's doctor's office:

The medical intern started her presentation with an eye roll. "The patient in Room 3 had some blood in the toilet bowl this morning and is here with a pile of Internet printouts listing all the crazy things she thinks she might have."

The intern continued, "I think she has a hemorrhoid."

"Another case of cyberchondria," added the nurse behind me.

In the end, the patient did, indeed, have a hemorrhoid.

This made me laugh because a number of years ago I did something very similar, but in my case I didn't even have any symptoms. Simply browsing the Internet I came upon a description of a rare, genetic disorder, Marfan Syndrome, that, it appeared to me, I might have. It didn't matter that no one in my family had ever been diagnosed with this disorder nor met their premature end as a result of this disorder, I became increasingly convinced I was at least potentially one with this life-threatening condition. The scary part about it was that it involved a weakness in the heart's aorta and death could come instantly without warning as the aorta ruptures. I spent weeks in nervous anxiety, thinking every twinge in my upper back, every weird sensation in my chest, was an indication that I did have this condition. I even ended up imagining being carted out of my house by EMT's on a stretcher while my young children, bewildered, looked on helplessly, thinking it would be the last time they would see their mother alive. Oh, I was a wreck.

So, I scheduled a physical with my doctor. She was wonderful. I remember her smiling and even warmly laughing a little at my concern. I admitted I felt foolish, having dredged up this information on the Internet. She commiserated, sharing that, being a doctor, she had too much information at her disposal and had done the same more than once. She said, "You understand how rare this disorder is, don't you? And you're not tall, so..." I nodded. "But I do share many of the other indications, and that worries me," I said. She said, "Ok, I understand. Let's do an echocardigram and put your mind at ease." Bless her. Tests revealed I do not, in fact, have Marfan Syndrome and I stopped having imaginary traumatic death scenes play out inside my head.

A similar dynamic can happen when reading tarot, especially if we are "self-diagnosing," or reading for oneself. Just as the wealth of information on the Internet can benefit someone with a health concern, it can also lead to unfounded worries. So, too, the myriad of meanings and interpretations to the tarot cards can both inform and send one down anxiety ridden paths. For example, we can get quite nervous when we see the Tower show up on any given day. It's not just the imagery, it's the traditional meaning, too. According to Waite's Pictorial Key:

THE TOWER.--Misery, distress, indigence, adversity, calamity, disgrace, deception, ruin. It is a card in particular of unforeseen catastrophe. Reversed: According to one account, the same in a lesser degree also oppression, imprisonment, tyranny.

Nice. You're screwed. Oh noes! So, if you're like me, you do more research. You ask the cards what the hell they are talking about and what means the Tower in this situation. It's answer? Ten of Swords:

Whatsoever is intimated by the design; also pain, affliction, tears, sadness, desolation. It is not especially a card of violent death. Reversed: Advantage, profit, success, favour, but none of these are permanent; also power and authority.

Good grief. Well, at least I won't die violently. And the Swords indicate conflict, but it is likely something verbal or that is going on inside my own head. I'd rather see this card follow the Tower than the 5 of Pentacles reversed:

The card foretells material trouble above all, whether in the form illustrated--that is, destitution--or otherwise. For some cartomancists, it is a card of love and lovers-wife, husband, friend, mistress; also concordance, affinities. These alternatives cannot be harmonized. Reversed: Disorder, chaos, ruin, discord, profligacy.

But it's still disconcerting, so how about we have a do-over? Shuffle. Shuffle some more. Shuffle more. Now my hands are sweaty and random cards fall out of the deck. Do they mean something? Nah, I'm just perspiring. But what if they do? Strength fell out, but was it upright or reversed? I don't know because it fell on the floor sideways.

Power, energy, action, courage, magnanimity; also complete success and honours. Reversed: Despotism, abuse if power, weakness, discord, sometimes even disgrace.

I need to know if it was upright or reversed, so I draw another card to ask this. I get 7 of Wands:

Reversed: Perplexity, embarrassments, anxiety. It is also a caution against indecision.

Now the tarot is making fun of me and my anxious state over this whole reading. "Very funny, " I say out loud. Further readings, of which there are several, yield results no better and less clear.

First, calm down. Even doctors need to consult other doctors. Tarot readers need to consult other tarot readers sometimes, too. All it took for me to find peace when I thought I was suffering from an incurable condition was an understanding physician and a simple test. It was worth the co-pay. It was not worth the weeks of dread and anxiety I waited because I thought I was being foolish. The objectivity that another reader can provide is priceless.

A Mind Divided

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 23:15:00 +0000

As every divided kingdom falls, so every mind divided between many studies confounds and saps itself.

-- Leonardo Da Vinci

And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

-- Mark 3:25

Original Rider-Waite Tarot published by US Games 1999

The Two of Swords in the Rider Waite imagery left me with curious questions, so I spent some time researching the symbolic origins. It wasn't an easy task because much of the esoteric imagery of the decks that arose from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn were symbolic of secrets only the initiates and adepts were privy to. What they publicly were said to mean could differ significantly to what they privately meant. Or not. One never really knows.

Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot states:

A hoodwinked female figure balances two swords upon her shoulders.
Divinatory Meanings: Conformity and the equipoise which it suggests, courage, friendship, concord in a state of arms; another reading gives tenderness, affection, intimacy. The suggestion of harmony and other favourable readings must be considered in a qualified manner, as Swords generally are not symbolical of beneficent forces in human affairs.
Reversed: Imposture, falsehood, duplicity, disloyalty.

So we have some key symbols mentioned in his description as well as visible on the card itself.

Blindfold or Hoodwink:

The term "hoodwinked" in reference to the blindfold is used in its archaic definition, to blindfold, rather than the more modern definition: to take in by deceptive means. The blindfold on the woman is not there for purposes of deception but to heighten her awareness of her other senses. This essay by Mason Brother Henry Taylor, written in 1923, explains the psychological, symbolic, and functional reasons for the hoodwink in ceremonial rites of their secret society. In reference to the blindfold featured on the 2 of Swords, this quote by Taylor is most appropriate:

Of the inward and constitutional lack of faculty, the Hoodwink is the fitting symbol. It stands for that darkness which is due, not to accident, or to tyranny, but to a lack in the soul itself, which the darkened one alone has the means to remove.

She has the physical ability to remove her blindfold herself, unlike the figure in the 8 of Swords whose hands are bound. However, her hands are otherwise occupied with the two swords. It appears that the darkness will not be lifted until she can resolve the issue represented by the swords.

The Latin code of gematria is a common means to explore the inner meaning of mystical writings and scriptures by use of numerology, specifically by exchanging letters and/or phrases with its numerical equivalent and is known to be used by secret societies in their writings. In this system, "hoodwinked" has the value of 1080. This is the female, or lunar, component of the number of fusion (1080 + 666 = 1746) and ascribed to the Holy Ghost. If we use this numerical clue, we can then see why the figure is female and also why she is "hoodwinked." She is attempting to hear the intuitive voice inside of her soul, often called the Holy Spirit by Christians, by temporarily blinding her sense of sight.

The Swords:
We know that Swords in Tarot indicate the mind, mental activity, communication, challenge, conflict, and the actions that arise from there. In this image they are posed crossed with the points of the blade upward. Symbolically upward pointing crossed swords indicate an active battle as opposed to downward crossed blades which symbolize the battle is over. Upward crossed swords can often be seen as a symbol of victory if the figure is holding the swords crossed over his head, but here the swords themselves are not crossed, but her arms are crossed over her heart in the sign of an X. The X is the symbol for Chi in Greek which is the first letter in Christ and has long been used as a symbol for the Christ. It is an ancient symbol of transformation and is often seen as the position for the arms of a body laid at rest after death. While some would attribute this practice to Christianity, one can see this same position in Egyptian mummies, which predate Christianity considerably. The X is the Egyptian sign of Osiris, the Sun God, who was later associated (by Christians) with Christ, the Son of God, so the crossed arms of Egyptians were most likely in honor of Osiris, the Great Lord and signifying their own transformation into the afterlife. The opposing thoughts or ideas represented by the swords are being held by a woman who is attempting to listen intently to her inner voice in order to be transformed in some way by the inner conflict.

The Moon:

The crescent moon in the upper right sky would ordinarily indicate feminine fertility, but at closer examination one can see the moon is not being reflected in its ordinary position for the waxing or waning moon whether one views it from the Northern or Southern hemisphere. The points of the crescent never point southwest when it is waxing or waning, so it appears the moon is either being eclipsed here like this photo:

Lunar Eclipse December 20, 2010

Or it is actually daytime and the sun is high in the sky and reflecting the upper portion of the moon:

Because the 8 of Cups shows an eclipse quite clearly and this moon is drawn quite differently, I think this is a moon sighted during the daytime. It is also a waxing Moon and therefore closer to the sun. The moon is brighter during its newer phases and able to be seen during the day. Mystery solved. The waxing moon is symbolic of growth, manifestation, attainment, and gravidity. The moon itself is symbolic of receptivity, intuition, illumination, passivity, psyche, time, transition, emotion, perception, mystery, wonder, shadow, balance, all of which can be seen in the meaning of the woman's challenge and position in this card.

The Number Two:
Two is the number of the Major Arcana High Priestess and if we place the cards side-by-side we can see the clear imprint of the High Priestess on the 2 of Swords.

Original Rider-Waite Tarot published by US Games 1999

The crescent moon is all over the High Priestess card, from the shape of the pomegranates to her crown and the moon at her feet. The two swords echo the High Priestess' columns, which are said to contain the archived scientific wisdom of the ages. The water behind the 2 of Swords is flowing beneath the High Priestess' feet. The crossed arms of the 2 of Swords woman also echoes the cross on the chest of the High Priestess. It could be said then, that the 2 of Swords figure is seeking the High Priestess' intuitive guidance and will take all the time it needs to take to get it. The duality of the number two seeks balance and a means to incorporate the opposing forces into a whole.

Ok, so that was some really cool investigative work, but besides telling us what we likely already know, that we're stuck in an inner conflict between opposing ideas, how would this card help us move out of that place? What is interesting about this card is though it is of the Swords suit, it actually recommends a very non-Swords approach. Its advice is to turn not to the light of the sun, the rational, but to the reflective light of the moon, the intuitive and emotional. Hence the imagery of seeing the moon during the day, to incorporate the intuitive with the rational. The process itself is transformative because what results is a new thing, a new truth or idea that comes as a blending of intellect and emotion, spirit and reason, divined from the wisdom ensconced within you.

No telling how long one must sit in this stillness, in this uncomfortable quandary. It might be brief or it may last quite a while, but to remove the swords to their downward position to indicate the battle is over and peace reigning, we must must be willing to wait in quietness. Sooner or later, that insight, the third sword, will break through.

Original Rider-Waite Tarot published by US Games 1999

Honoring Death

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 18:24:00 +0000

It's October 31st and it's time to celebrate Death. This doesn't sit well with many, but for thousands of years people have been observing this time of year to joyfully remember those who have died. All Hallows Eve is a Celtic tradition born from Samuin or Samhain which means "summer's end." It wasn't originally connected with acknowledging the dead but as a thanksgiving to the gods for provision for the winter. The Halloween connection with death came only when the Catholic Church set their All Saints Day on November 1. Gaelic Christians, then, merged the celebrations. While the Church was notorious for co opting pagan festivals in order to better convert the masses, this was not true in the case of Halloween. Pope Gregory III moved All Saints Day to November 1 in the mid 700's and a November festival of all the saints was already widely celebrated on November 1 in the days of Charlemagne. This may have been part of the reason Pope Gregory III did it, but there were other more Roman-centric reasons having nothing to do at all with the Celts in England, Ireland, and Scotland.

A more overt co opting was seen in Latin America where the Spaniards, viewing the celebration of the Aztec Day of the Dead as sacrilegious and failing in their attempts to ban the celebrations, instead moved it from it's original position in the Aztec calendar (roughly around the beginning of August) to November 1-2 to coincide with All Saints and All Souls Days. The indigenous peoples of South America had a very different view of death than the Europeans. They saw life as a dream and death as waking from that dream and a continuation of life rather than an end to it. The buoyant atmosphere of the Day of the Dead contrasts with All Soul's Day's somberness in which prayers are offered to help loved ones pass through Purgatory into Heaven.

The practice of taking over existing cultural holidays and "Christianizing" them is something the Church has done practically since its inception. In a well-known speech to the Athenians in the 1st century, the Apostle Paul declares the deity they called "Agnostos Theos," or unknown god, was actually the Hebrew god, whose name was too holy to say. (Acts 17:22-31) There was a temple in Athens dedicated to this god, but it wasn't viewed so much as a deity itself but as a way the Greeks could cover their spiritual hindquarters in case there was a god that existed that they didn't know about and didn't want to inadvertently insult. Paul, being an educated scholar, used his understanding of the Greek culture and literature to sway his listeners to a different spiritual concept, but also using one that was already embedded in the culture. Conversion to Christianity, in Paul's experience, came as a dramatic "Aha!" moment in which he was struck blind for a time. When he could see again, it was as if he saw everything in creation in a new light with a new perspective. Therefore, the effort to convert others to Christianity involved, at least early in the history of the movement, persuading them to see their existing world through the lens of a Christian perspective. That Sun God you worship? That's the Son of God. The death and rebirth you witness each year on the earth? That symbolizes Christ's death and resurrection, and so on and so forth. It wasn't until the Church became a civil authority with the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine that it had the official power to not only persuade but demand certain feasts and festivals honor Christian concepts rather than pagan. Constantine himself was Roman and did not cease to be Roman after his conversion. Rather, he credited his successes to the Christian High God but continued to honor the Roman deities as well. In fact, he instructed that Christians and non-Christians alike were to observe the venerable day of the sun. This edict would lead to the transforming of the pagan holiday of Yule into Christmas, but Constantine was happy with it as it was.

Cultural practices are not easily eradicated. They are, instead, incorporated and evolve into a merging of borrowed observances until we often lose sight of their true origins. We end up observing a holiday just because we always have, because we were taught as children to do so, not even knowing why we do the things we do at those special times. While some people decry Halloween's increasingly gory displays, it is a valuable way for people to come to terms with their fears surrounding death. By dressing in costume and becoming that which we fear, we are for the moment the master of it. Likewise, by consciously attempting to step through the veil between the physical and non-physical, one feels more in control of otherworldly forces that would otherwise pop through unexpectedly. While we may not be literally paying homage to loved ones who have passed on, though many still do that at this time, observing Halloween gives us an opportunity to honor Death itself, giving it its due as a power beyond our control and understanding.

http://thealchemicalegg.com/Tarot.html

The Death card in Tarot is numbered XIII. Thirteen hasn't always been viewed negatively, but when the ancient 13-month lunar calendar was replaced with the 12-month solar calendar, which coincides with the transition from feminine-based religions to masculine ones, the number began to take on ominous meaning. The lunar cycles also coincide with a woman's menstrual cycles of 28-days and is associated with the moon. Men believed witches fly at the full moon and the moon is a feminine symbol as well. The negative connotations with the number 13 are probably connected more with male fear of women and witchcraft than anything else. The fear of feminine stuff is largely based in a predominantly male fear of the unknown, of disorder and chaos, and of the inability to control the uncontrollable. Because Death is the ultimate uncontrollable force, its association with 13 is understandable in that light. In very ancient societies, death was but one aspect of the Great Mother, both the giver and taker of life. However, the dualistic view of the ancient Greeks divided life and death into different personas, life being feminine and death masculine, but there are many personifications of Death both as male and female across time and cultures. There really doesn't appear to be a consensus in the human archetypal compendium which renders Death specifically of one gender, which is rather fitting for the Great Equalizer.

Meanwhile, as we don our costumes, attend parties and trick-or-treat, we are participating in an amazing cross-cultural, cross-spiritual event, whether we recognize it or not. We're paying homage to Death and, by extension, to Life. We're facing our fears, whistling in the dark, and honoring our ancestors who have all had to face the same ultimate end. We all participate in the dance macabre.

Occupy Justice

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 02:03:00 +0000


Tarot of the Master by Giovanni Vacchetta	, Lo Scarabeo 2002

There is a movement beginning in the United States that started with a small, rag-tag group that decided to protest something intangible but felt tangibly by millions of people. Occupy Wallstreet began on September 17 in response to a call by Adbusters on July 13. Since then, thousands of people have taken to the streets of New York and the protest has spread to other cities in the US. The protests are not springing forth from any particular political party and the agenda isn't entirely clear except that people are sick and tired of being treated as if 99 percent of the population are disposable by a small, wealth-controlling minority. We're tired of electing public officials that tell us one thing but relinquish their promises in favor of the whims of those who bought and paid for them to secure office. What the protesters are seeking is Justice, both karmic and legal. It's rather fitting that the protests are still going on and this month is the anniversary of peace activist John Lennon's birthday. He once said, "If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace." He firmly believed that the people already possess the power to change things, but they aren't aware of the incredible power they already have. He devoted a significant amount of his life and resources to advertise for peace, to helping people become aware of the power we have, both individually and collectively, to change the world.

So often we think the power lies "out there" and it's all a matter of what other people and forces do that affect us, but we're the ones that create and shape our world. Justice always seems like an "other" type of force, something outside of us that decides for or against us. Thing is, we are the ones that set Justice in motion. Even if one views her as a kind of karmic balancer, rather than an internal virtue, then she is still profoundly influenced by our actions: past, present, and future. St. Thomas Aquinas defined justice as the constant and perpetual will to render to everyone his due. Injustice, then, occurs when a person or group receives either less or more than what is due to them. The problem, as Lennon observed, is in the lack of awareness that most people possess, either because of apathy or ignorance. People who are educated, informed, and aware of injustice react to it, almost instinctively, and seek to set things to right again. The only way a small, albeit powerful, group could have succeeded in tipping the scales so profoundly in their favor and against the majority without Justice intervening is because the majority wasn't looking or they thought Justice is something done by others and not something they themselves produce by their own decisions and actions.

Ancient Minchiate Etruria by Pietro Alligo, Lo Scarabeo 1996

It is in justice that the ordering of society is centered. ~Aristotle

Among the opponents of the recent protests are those who think the people who are protesting are just pissed off that other people are wealthy and have made something of themselves and that the protests are nothing more than folks with a bad case of sour grapes. What I see instead is the awakening of many people to the reality that we, both individually and collectively, wield Justice's sword. While it is true that Justice represents the decisions made by the "powers that be," what is often overlooked is that we are the creators of those offices, those powers, and it isn't by divine right that those in power maintain their positions. It is all of human artifice and design and therefore can be balanced only by human influence.

Because Justice is a Major Arcana card in the tarot deck, the idea that its power is "fated" or "destined" and is somehow outside of one's control comes into play in many tarot readings. It isn't entirely untrue, that interpretation. As a society, we do vest power in our legal institutions to decide for us, on our behalf. Therefore, when we find ourselves in a situation in which our "fate" must be decided by they who are granted those powers, we can feel quite powerless in the court of Justice. And while our power may be limited in its influence in that moment, we are not powerless. Sometimes Justice rules in our favor and sometimes she doesn't, but nevertheless when Justice is served we know it. It's when we see the scales of Justice totally off kilter that something within rises up, attempts to seize the sword from her hand and start hacking away at whatever resides on the weighty side, and yes, that is our right and duty. It is at Justice's invitation and and plea that we act upon that inner sense of hers inside of us that ultimately determines her final decree.

The problem with human justice is that it is limited by our perceptions. All the checks and balances placed within the system can be circumvented and corrupted by the very people who rely on it to serve them. There is a well-known story in the Gospel of John called the "Pericope de Adultera" about Jesus and the woman taken in adultery. The governing authorities brought a woman who had been caught "in the very act" (ahem) of adultery to Jesus for dispensing of justice. The story illustrates something very important about not only Justice, but who should, and more importantly, who should not wield her sword. Adultery was a capital offense in ancient Jewish society and the sentence was to be carried out by stoning the offender. When the officials brought the woman to be judged, the crowd gathered with stones in their hands in order to, they thought and believed, exact justice. All too often, this is how most of us respond to the call to justice. We follow what we have been taught and so believe to be right. Our inner scales are already weighted with our customs, our upbringing, our cultural mores. With one sentence, Jesus strips the blindfold off Justice by saying, "He who is without sin, cast the first stone." The statement blatantly reveals that not one of us is unbiased, impartial, nor unstained with personal opinion that renders the human being incapable and indeed unworthy of passing such a serious judgement upon another.

All we can do is strive to balance the scales, but we must do so in the understanding that our perceptions are probably skewed and that perfect human justice is probably unattainable. No social movement will ultimately "fix things." However, that should never stop us from trying. The next time Justice appears in a reading, consider where balance ought to be restored and how one might contribute to that effort. If it indicates you are in the position to "render judgement" then consider carefully that you, too, carry the human flaw of bias. If you are the defendant in Justice's court, don't lose heart or feel powerless, but seek to understand your own influence in the events. In human affairs, Justice is something we all work to achieve, but never quite possess.

Review: The Ultimate Guide to Tarot Card Meanings

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 01:48:00 +0000

If you don't know about her, you should. Brigit (Biddy) Esselmont has been a professional tarot reader for fifteen years and has been an online presence in the tarot community for many of those years as well. I first remember encountering her on the Aeclectic Tarot Forums back in 2004 and was impressed with her meticulous skill for developing workable tarot spreads that weren't just new arrangements of the same old positions. I mean, seriously people, you can arrange the cards into a different shape, but if the position meanings are the same as all the others, what's so different about this new spread? Biddy's spreads are worked and re-worked and tested until she's satisfied they are entirely useful. Her talent is in no way limited to spreads. With Biddy's newly released e-book, "The Ultimate Guide to Tarot Card Meanings" Biddy has condensed so much of her work into a very usable and useful handbook.

Tarot is such a vast subject and the meanings of tarot cards are, in some ways, infinite and variable, that it can be quite a challenge to present a volume of tarot card meanings without rambling on and on and going off on various tangents. Biddy presents her card meanings in such a clear, concise manner while stating at the beginning that the book is not meant to be a "be-all and end-all" to tarot card meanings and that tarot cards often take on different meanings depending on the reading. It is called a "guide" for that very reason. It is called the "Ultimate Guide"and I don't feel it disappoints in that regard because it is very comprehensive. But Biddy had to place some limits on the virtually limitless topic of tarot. The guide uses only the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. While the majority of tarot decks are based in Rider Waite imagery, the other systems such as Tarot de Marseilles and Thoth, while similar, do have their own meaning associations that differ from the RWS. The book would have become unwieldy had she attempted to incorporate all systems and meanings. As it stands, the book is very well organized, and it's clear a great deal of thought went into how to make it accessible and easy to consult.

This kind of reference is beautifully suited to an e-book format. There are links within the book that will take you directly to Biddy's website, email, Facebook and Twitter pages, too. She gives a brief introduction to tarot numerology, reading with reversals, and reading tarot combinations before going into the card meanings themselves. Printable reference charts for the Major and each suit of the Minor Arcana are included. In fact, the entire 336-page guide is printable, either by ordering a hard copy from lulu.com or by taking the file to a local printer. They can even bind it for you if you like. I do a lot of my tarot study online, so an e-book format is perfect for me. Biddy honestly thought of just about everything. She's very thorough and supremely efficient and these qualities are clearly evident in her work. I can appreciate that kind of OCD-perfectionism when it benefits the user. The guide sells for $29 and while many e-books are cheaper, they are also, well, cheaper. Biddy's attention to detail and comprehensive approach yields a very user-friendly and quite handy reference for novice and expert alike.

There is also a companion workbook in which Biddy encourages you to basically create your own Ultimate Guide to Tarot Card Meanings! It is formatted just like her book only you have the task of working with the cards and allowing your own intuition and study to speak and journal what these cards come to mean to you. Brilliant! Together the Guide and Workbook are $38.50. If you do well with workbooks and appreciate the pre-formatted design, it's well worth the extra $9.50, but if you don't think you'll use it, don't buy it. Once again, Biddy knows her audience and has created a product that is customizable to anyone's individual preference.

Of course, I always "test drive" products that I review. Biddy includes some bonuses at the end of her book which include suggestions for 3-card readings. I randomly chose one and will use her guide to interpret the reading. I have been experiencing some frustrating roadblocks at my work. I have been trying to interview for other positions outside of my department and my efforts have resulted in a big, fat nothing. So, I chose: Where You Stand Now/What You Aspire To/How To Get There for my spread.

Where I Stand Now: Using Biddy's keyword chart, the 10 of Swords means: back-stabbed, defeat, crisis, betrayal, endings, loss. I can immediately relate to much of this given how I am perceiving my current situation at work. I do feel where I am is a dead-end and every effort I have made to change my situation thus far has been met with defeat. One of the quotations used for the 10 of Swords gives me some hope: "Many a man has finally succeeded only because he has failed after repeated efforts. If he had never met defeat he would never have known any great victory." --Orison Swett Marden In Biddy's more descriptive text, she speaks of acceptance of endings, and while my job has not ended (so far!) I was given some news on Friday that clearly told me that it was indeed a dead-end job, that I had virtually no hope of moving upward within my department. I spent the weekend feeling very sorry for myself but determined to make some changes. Unsure what those changes will be, however, I am still in this 10 of Swords place, feeling defeated and a little betrayed but resolving myself to this situation. She writes, "The Ten of Swords is about letting go and accepting your current circumstances. You no longer resist change but allow it to happen, even if it causes some initial pain and hurt to you. You accept that there must be change in order to facilitate renewal, and you allow it to occur rather than fighting it." Yes, indeed, by the end of this weekend, I am able to say I am there.

What I Aspire To: Biddy's keywords for the 7 of Pentacles are: Vision, perseverance, profit, reward, investment. Hell to the yeah! I aspire to a job where I have a vision, and I don't mind persevering if there will be profit, and reward, but not in a position that has no potential to yield anything. I want to invest in something that has promise. The most applicable quote under this card is: "Progress however, of the best kind, is comparatively slow. Great results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step." -- Samuel Smiles. See, I understand that. And slow progress is good, but none is not. In her general definition, Biddy talks about this being a card of long-term goals and of putting forth efforts in areas that look promising rather than into efforts that clearly will not pay off. No one is looking for a quick win here, so this card and her definition is very apt. I simply want my efforts to be rewarded and to apply myself where I will see and reap those rewards.

How To Get There: Biddy's keywords for the 5 of Swords are: Conflict, tension, loss, defeat, win at all costs, betrayal. Hmmmm. Could tarot be telling me that I'm not going to get where I aspire to at my current place of employment? Possibly. Meanwhile, I can use the energy of this card to keep trying to "win." Not at all costs, of course, but to not be satisfied with "losing." Surprisingly this quote struck the strongest with me in this situation: "You must never be satisfied with losing. You must get angry, terribly angry, about losing. But the mark of the good loser is that he takes his anger out on himself and not his victorious opponents or on his teammates." Richard M. Nixon, of all people. In this case, Biddy's card meaning specifically for work and finances nailed it, I think. She writes: "In a work reading, the Five of Swords suggests that you have to operate within a very competitive, dog-eat-dog environment. Hostility, tension and conflict are high, so you must look out for your own interests and needs, otherwise you will not succeed." Bam. Right on it. Clearly, I need to invest my time into looking for work outside my current environment, possibly outside the company itself, in order to invest in something that will ultimately yield reward. While I remain there, I need to get serious about actively looking out for number one or I'm doomed to lose out time and time again.

Keep in mind, too, that for this trial run reading, I have only used very abbreviated portions of Biddy's card meanings. They are extensive and cover not just the general meaning of each card but also its application to Work & Finance, Relationships, Personality Types, Spirituality, and Well-being and Health. For my topic, I focused on her General and Work & Finance categories. Did I say this guide was comprehensive? It's also not what we often derisively call a LWB or Little White Book, the small pamphlet that is included in many tarot deck boxes with basic, generic, keywords and meanings for each card. This guide is genuinely helpful, by itself, in rendering an accurate and useful reading. I didn't even add my own personal, intuitive commentary on this reading and with the guide alone was given valuable insight into my current situation.

You can, if you like, view a sample of The Ultimate Guide to Tarot Card Meanings.

The Star's Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 23:52:00 +0000

Classic Tarot by Carlo DellaRocca
Published by Lo Scarabeo 2000

The Star is always trotted out as one of the most wonderful cards, always. Then why, when I see it, doesn't it make me happy? I've said before it could be that I'm more geared toward immediate gratification so when I see the Star it tells me I'm on the right track but it's going to be a good while before I reach my goal and that just frustrates me. It's always good to see the Star coming up for what a romantic partner thinks of you, but that too kind of irritates because inevitably the ones who always think the Star of you are the ones who also keep you at a distance. Like you're up on some lofty pedestal or something. Since readings have been sparse lately -- cue shameless promotional plug: it would be a great time to schedule a tarot reading with me now because there will be little to no wait -- I've had some time to poke around and research this card that seems oh so great but always bothers me. I think I've uncovered something more than a naked lady playing with water.

The generic description of the card features "a goddess"...wait, which goddess? And do they call her a goddess because she is both beautiful and naked or because she represents a particular goddess myth? Choosing to go with the latter, I researched goddesses associated with either stars or water. I found Inanna, Sumerian goddess of rebirth. Hold up. Rebirth? Wouldn't that be better associated with Judgement? Maybe, but there's a lot more. Others have seen the similarities to Inanna and the tarot Star card, too, and what they are seeing is more than rebirth but alignment with a myth that is only a part, but an important part, of Inanna's legend. Typically, images of Inanna show her either richly dressed or naked. In the story, "Inanna's Descent to the Underworld," which is most useful for the Star imagery, she is stripped of her clothing. Also, for a time during that journey, nature "dies" with Inanna and nothing would grow. It was only when she returned to earth that things began blooming and growing again, hence her fertility goddess role and the watering of the earth. Also, her symbol all over Mesopotamia is the 8-pointed star.

Maybe I should tell the story. You can find it at Lins Domain and in many other places, but essentially she needed to visit her sister Ereshkigal who rules the Underworld. She heard her sister's baneful moaning and felt compelled to see her. Any trek to the Underworld risks death, so she garbed herself accordingly: with her crown on her head, lapis lazuli around her neck, a golden bracelet, and a royal robe on her body and a breastplate. She also took a lapis measuring rod and line. When she was announced at the gate, her sister became more agitated and only allowed each of the gates to be opened a crack and Inanna had to remove her garments and ornaments in order to squeeze through each one. She arrived at her destination naked and vulnerable. The judges of the Underworld ruled against her and her sister killed her. She became a rotting corpse and was hung from a hook on the wall.

Her companion outside the gates waited three days and then went seeking help from various Gods and finally Enki, God of Wisdom and Water who had originally blessed Inanna prior to her descent. He created two creatures and gave them the food and water of life to take to Inanna. They snuck into the Underworld and found Ereshkigal in a very distressed state, moaning and crying. Whatever agony she named, they would speak it back to her. Finally she stopped and blessed the creatures and promised to give them whatever they asked. They asked for Inanna's corpse, of course. As part of the deal of reviving her, though, she had to choose another person to go in her place. She ended up choosing her husband because while she was gone, he had gone about his life as if nothing had happened. Though she loved him very much it was clear he didn't love her the same.

On Lin's page she includes a commentary by Carl Jung, pioneer psychoanalyst who worked extensively with archetypes and myth in his practice and writings. I found this commentary to be so very enlightening with respect to the Star imagery. The commentary focuses on the Inanna story as it illustrates a journey of deep depression. I recommend reading it because the commentary, even more than the myth itself, speaks to why this card doesn't always feel so "happy" or "good." It represents the afterwards, the time following a very rigorous examination of one's shadow self, a time of deep darkness and depression.

It's as if there is a pause between the Tower and the Star, a time spent in the Underworld groaning, moaning, and dying, a time of utter hopelessness. We don't see this in tarot as it happens in the nether realms, but it is important to understand the cause of the hope the Star implies. The article states: "The solution to depression lies not in great intellectual power, nor in great emotional power. It comes from Wisdom, which encompasses all of the psychological functions." Ah! The missing virtue in tarot! Prudence! The hope she has comes from Wisdom, and from knowing that whatever depths she has visited can be overcome with Wisdom. She has also discarded her former garments for she has learned their value is little compared to the experience of facing her shadow self and integrating it into her being and becoming whole.

Being a veteran of my own treks to the Underworld, I know intimately the cost of depression. Upon my return, I was not happy-go-lucky but I did acquire hope. In the depths, I could not see what there was to look towards. In my ascent, I had hope that things would get better, I would get better. The Star is that time, when you have integrated something rather dark, tragic, painful and costly into your being and, surviving that after having already survived the Tower experience that preceded it, your skin still raw and wet from rebirth, your psyche still wounded and painful to the touch, you spend some time tending to that which you could not when you were "away." Inanna's earth would not grow, so she is watering it to revive its life. The water would not flow, so she is pouring her tears into the stream. It is a time of reclamation, without which we could not move on.   You may have to cut ties with people who, as you found out when you were gone, didn't really give a crap about you, like Inanna's husband. You start the process of pruning the overgrowth. This isn't an easy time, but it is a hopeful time. It's a time when others may expect you to be back to "your old self." How do you tell them your old self has died, never to return? Besides, it will be a while before the process of reclamation is done, before you get where you're appointed to go. But it will never be as it was before. You are changed. Your direction will likely change. This is a card of work and healing and growth and yes, rebirth.

Now I understand why it unsettles me so. I know this work. There is a reason stars only shine at night and why the Moon follows this one in tarot progression. It's like that poem by Robert Frost, "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening."

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there's some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Paranormal Tarot Investigations

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 00:07:00 +0000

I've always wanted to see a ghost. I don't know what I would do if I actually saw one, but since I was young I have been fascinated with the idea of actually seeing, with my own eyes, an apparition of a spirit entity. My friends who have seen such things assure me it's not all it's cracked up to be and it would scare the living crap out of me. I expect they are correct. So maybe it's a good thing that I don't "see dead people" on the regular. However, I have had a few odd experiences that I cannot explain. I thought I would use tarot to shed some light on these strange experiences.

I have a shadow cat. I have had this "companion" for a long time and cannot remember when I first began noticing its presence. All I know is that it tends to simply be in my home, wherever my home may be, and its appearance is incredibly random. I never told anyone about the "cat" because I value being seen as a sane individual and partly figured it might be a figment of my imagination anyway. This "cat" will move about my home, under furniture, around corners, and rub against me. I will usually only see it out of the corner of my eye as it walks behind the sofa, under the table, or around the corner into the next room. I feel very comforted when I see it, it makes me smile both inside and out, like a real cat companion would. I do not know its gender, if it has one, nor its name. I see it as a black cat, but that could be because it is shadowy. I didn't mention any of this to my boyfriend, Mike, when we moved in together. Why would I? I mean, it's all in my mind, right? That is, until he spoke up one night and said, "I saw a cat in the apartment today." I stared at him.
"We don't have a cat," I said, stating the obvious.
"I know, silly. It wasn't a cat, really, but I saw a cat kind of slink under that table over there and into our bedroom. It was weird."
"Oh. That's my cat." I tried to sound nonchalant.
"And you were planning to tell me about this when?" he eyed me.
"Never. But now that you've seen it." I shrugged. I was acting quite cool about it but in reality I was amazed that someone else had seen my cat. Mike is very empathic, but I didn't think he'd actually see my cat. Now I'm not so embarrassed about it because his seeing it validates that I am not imagining it.
I was talking about my cat to a friend while my daughter was in the room. She had never heard me talk about it before, and her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. I thought she was thinking her mom had gone mad.
"What?" I asked.
"Well, you never told me that before," she said.
"I don't parade my insanity before my children," I laughed.
"Well, because one night I was semi-sleeping and I felt a cat jump on my bed. I thought it was Cinnamon (our real cat), but when I reached out to pet him, there was nothing there."
"Really? Wow. Ok, yeah, that was probably my cat. I wish you had told me because it wasn't until Mike told me he saw it that I realized it wasn't all in my head."

I really wish I knew why this cat has hung around me for so long and if there is a particular spiritual significance other than companionship for its presence. Some have told me it is my "familiar" but I'm not into witchcraft or anything like that. Is there any reason a non-witch would have a familiar? And I have no control over when it shows up. It's not like I can call it and it appears. It shows up very randomly of its own accord.

I asked tarot to tell me about the cat:

The 6 of Swords is a transitional card having to do with moving and traveling, but because it is of the Swords suit, we focus more on the state of mind which prompts the progression from moving from a rather unhealthy state to a more peaceful frame of mind. Two elements are featured prominently in this card: air and water. The wooden boat suggests earth as well, though it is designed to float on the emotional water. The implication here is that it is a time when one can evaluate one's thought process and one's emotions without being engulfed by the attending emotions, safe and grounded in an earthen vessel. The ferryman is a guide to this process. So could the cat be a manifestation of a guide that assists in my life transitions?

I love that the Strength kitty showed up. It's definitely feline. Offering a kind of peaceful strength in times when its needed. It may also suggest that the unassuming kitty may be a lot more powerful than I think. The Moon may suggest I'm crazy and seeing illusions and imagining things, which I thought was true, but since both my partner and my daughter have validated my sightings, I'm more inclined to think the Moon is pointing to the spiritual feminine and the shapeshifting qualities of such an "animal." There is an otherworldly aura to the Moon, a card of spiritual and subconscious depth and intuition. The light of the moon is a shadowy guide through the night, so again it feels like it's saying the cat is an intuitive guide.

Another weird and very disturbing sighting of something I have no name or explanation for happened randomly one evening when Mike and I were driving to a friend's home across town. It was dusk, but we didn't need the headlights on just yet. Our friends lived in an apartment complex behind a large cemetery, so Mike, who was driving, took a shortcut on the road that runs through the cemetery. He was driving slowly as one does in a cemetery, like 15 mph or something. I was gazing out the passenger side window at the headstones and saw a..."creature" walking between the graves and down a slight hill. It looked odd so I sat up straight and looked closer. It was as large as a Great Dane but its hind end was higher than its front, much as a human might be postured if down on hands and feet, but its gait was smooth and comfortable as opposed to a human trying to awkwardly travel that way. It was covered in gray, shaggy, medium length fur. It's muzzle was elongated, and its head quite large. This was no dog or wolf nor was it a deer, as some have suggested. It did not appear to notice us and it casually walked on in the opposite direction that we were driving. "What was THAT!" I exclaimed and looked over at Mike. When I looked back at the creature it had disappeared. Mike didn't see it but he saw the look on my face and heard the slight panic in my voice. He has no doubt that I saw something very unusual given my reaction. I described what I saw in as much detail as I could, and I was seriously shaken.
"I wish you had seen it," I said.
"I didn't need to see it, I saw your face after you saw it," he answered.
Upon arriving home that evening I tried to research what I might have seen. The closest description is of a Black Dog or Barghest, but I am not sure.

I drew three cards on my graveyard sighting and this is the result:

The Tower suggests the shock I felt and still feel at seeing the creature. It was entirely unexpected, I wasn't on any sort of paranormal exploration nor did I remotely expect to encounter anything out of the ordinary. Judgement is rather eerie here with the image of the graves and the formerly dead rising out of them. Did I encounter an otherworldly or undead being? The angel, too, suggests a spirit guardian of sorts and these types of mythical dogs have a reputation of being "guardians of the corpse-ways" and are, according to the stories, often sighted in cemeteries. Angels are also messengers, but I don't know, even four years since, what message this sighting was supposed to have brought. The 9 of Pentacles gives an assurance that all is well, however, no need to be frightened, I am safe and secure and well-grounded -- i.e., not crazy.

I'm glad tarot, at least, defends my sanity.

I'd love to hear others' views on these weird experiences. Any insights? Feel free to share your own strange experiences and any readings you've done on them.

It's Not The Hand, It's How You Play It

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 23:31:00 +0000

I sometimes wonder, when I read tarot for someone, do they feel annoyed because I always seem to hone in on the card in their reading that says, "While you may not have control over this, you do have control over that, therefore you should...." While many find that kind of advice helpful, there are others that just skip past that part and focus on the outcome or future prediction. There's a reason I focus on the Advice card rather than the Outcome. The reason is Locus of Control. Your locus of control may change the outcome.

I think many people choose to get a tarot reading because they are feeling some lack of control in some area of their lives and they want to look ahead and see what's coming around the bend. There are many things that happen to us that are outside our immediate control and they can be worrisome. But there are things that only seem as if they are outside our control that can be brought into our control if we adjust our thinking and then our actions. At minimum, even if we cannot control the situation itself, we can control our own responses to it.

If one has a strong external locus of control, they believe much that happens in life is chance, luck, or misfortune. A strong internal locus of control is more self-determinate and believes that you pretty much get what you give and act upon. Most of us fall more toward one end or the other of the spectrum, but few are die hard extremes. This article by John A. Johnson, Ph.D., Life as Poker illustrates well the middle road locus of control and how we try to mitigate the uncomfortable feelings that come with a lack of control over significant things in our lives. Believing in reincarnation, for example, is one way people explain injustice, cruelty and poverty. By positing that we choose our next incarnation for spiritual learning purposes helps us breathe a sigh of relief when we are faced with inexplicable human tragedy. By theorizing that we attract everything we experience into our lives by our vibrations is also a conscious shift to fairly extreme internal locus of control. It feels better to believe we are in control, in some way, of most if not all that happens to us. In fact, scientific studies are revealing that when people feel less control, they are more inclined to superstitious thinking and behaviors. Lack of control also contributes to stress and there is more than enough evidence that stress contributes greatly to a lack of health and well being.

These studies support what I have thought all along: that a sense of lack of control predisposes a person to believe in tarot as a vehicle for fortune-telling. That belief is neither right or wrong, but it, along with feeling more of an external locus of control in the given situation, is often what will compel a person to get a reading. Given that a stronger internal locus of control contributes to a better outlook on life and less stress, finding that card in the reading that can shift that locus of control more to the internal side of the scale is often a crucial key in changing a situation's outcome.

But locus of control is only one factor. Another is self-efficacy. A person who is looking to quit smoking, for example, may fully believe and understand that smoking cigarettes is completely within their own control, but not believe they are capable of following through on cessation. Knowing something is within your control but not believing you can do what is required to make something happen is less about thinking fate or chance has the power but that you lack the power, so resignation and/or acceptance of something you wish you could change but can't sets in. Which is why even when that Advice card is really helpful, we don't always follow it and the outcome happens anyway. This lack of self-efficacy can also impact us in situations that truly are outside our control as well. Using the poker analogy, one may likewise feel a lack of confidence in one's abilities to play the cards "right" or in such a way that will yield success.

Here's an opportunity to dig a little deeper. So if the cards show a recommended course of action that you know would be helpful but you really don't feel inspired to follow, throw some additional cards seeking how to get to that place. Locate the block and the wedge that will split that block wide open. Maybe there is some inspiration to be found. What do the cards have to say about that? Where is the resistance inside and why is it there? In pop star Rihanna and rapper Eminem's new single, Love the Way You Lie, Part II, the lyrics reveal there is more to an abusive relationship than one may see, there may be addiction, love, stubbornness, and attraction from both sides. When someone knows that change is needed but is unwilling to act to make the change happen, more is going on under the surface than simple good advice can fix. The Advice card, therefore, can be a stepping stone rather than a resolution. It can act as catalyst to find the answers inside of you that will bring you to a deeper understanding of the choices you made and continue to make that, along with the choices others make (outside of your control) conspire to create this situation at hand. You may find, for example, that you really don't enjoy playing poker and don't want to learn the best way to manage your hand. You decide (a decision is in your control) you'd rather just allow others to continue to control your life's circumstances so you can conveniently blame others for your misfortune, even though you're a really good person and don't deserve all this mess. Good luck just wasn't "in the cards" for you. I honestly don't know anyone for whom that sounds appealing.

I think most of us fall somewhere in the middle. We acknowledge there are external forces outside our control that impact and influence our lives, sometimes for good, sometimes not. While there may be nothing we can do about those events, we can proactively choose the perspective with which we view the events as well as our active responses to them. While we may not be able to control how we feel about an event, we can express our feelings in productive ways that strengthen rather than weaken us. So even in the midst of feeling a lack of control, there are ways to take control of some aspect of yourself or the situation so that you gain a better foothold on the path you're on. Most of us know we actually are in control of a lot more than we give ourselves credit for. Following the path of least resistance often leads us to just coast along without direction, even though we know we could change course if we wanted. For example, if I am unhappy at my job but continue to go to work every day, month after month, year after year, without actively putting out resumes and queries into other work, because the effort to look for another job seems like too much on top of the effort I'm already expending at the job I hate, I am acknowledging that I could change my situation but I'm not willing. If I complain that I am too fat to fit into my clothes but refuse to either exercise or buy new clothes, I am simply going to be unhappy with myself and my clothing. Why we do this to ourselves for extended periods of time, I don't know. I've done it. We all do it from time to time. Then one day we get an Ace of Wands up our butts and do something different and actually make a change. If I could bottle Ace of Wands energy and sell it, I'd be a millionaire.

The whole purpose of my tarot reading is to help one increase their internal locus of control. Come to a reading feeling a lack of control, leave the reading feeling you've gained some control or at least a perspective or plan on how to gain more. Some may say I'm working myself out of a job, for if only people who feel a lack of control seek out a reading, then helping people empower themselves by shifting to an internal locus of control is counterproductive to my earning a living reading tarot. Not so. Tarot's usefulness extends beyond this. Knowing one has control but not being sure which choice to make often leads people to a tarot reading. The desire to identify internal blocks and the best means to break them also prompts tarot readings. Sometimes the reading itself serves as Ace of Wands in a can and prompts someone to act on their own behalf. But my aim is always to push a bit further into that internal place where one's own Ace of Wands need igniting and provide the match.

Good Advice From The Devil

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 21:06:00 +0000

Gilded Tarot by Ciro Marchetti Llewellyn 2004

Earlier this week, artist Ciro Marchetti revealed on Facebook his reworked Devil card for his new project, The Gilded Tarot Royale. (The old version is above, the new version can be seen in his FB photos) This card has long been one of my favorite expressions of Trump XV for obvious sexy reasons, but also because it clearly illustrates why temptation is, well, tempting! In so many deck renditions the Devil is shown as a revolting creature that could not tempt a flea to a dog. The traditional grotesque symbolism is supposed to imply that we don't realize the ugliness until we're neck-deep in it, and I get that, but I think Ciro's version communicates the seduction aspect very blatantly. It also shows the not-so-bad side of the Devil without neglecting its potentially disastrous side. Some decks use Pan or other horned gods like Cernunnos to stand in for The Devil because pagan tradition doesn't demonize this energy and is more accepting of its usefulness. That's healthy, yes, but sometimes the images stray a bit too far into All-Is-Well-Land and diminish the stern warning the card is meant to convey. Ciro's Devil is yummy, and it appears he's been working out since we last saw him, but he is also blinded by his own self-interests. He is choosing not to see. The pentacle behind him is upright, symbolizing the healthy aspect of the Lord of the Material World, but the pentacle on the horned helmet is upside down, suggesting an unhealthy obsession with sensuality and hedonism. This card's imagery is much easier to personally identify with also. One can easily switch perspectives from being the Tempter to the Tempted and back again. You can be the guy in the card or you can feel the temptation from him, and that helps a lot when trying to figure out its specific message for you. It's much more difficult to identify with this:

Tarot of Durer By Giacinto Gaudenzi

Lo Scarabeo

Can we easily slip into that beast? Or can we better imagine ourselves as the hot guy in the helmet? Not only that, but the message of the Devil isn't always evil as the pagan themed decks well know. It is often advising a healthy measure of self-care and attention to one's sensual needs, which, if neglected, can grow into devils themselves.

The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful"
– Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray 1891

The thoughtful and wise part of me knows that what Wilde is saying here is absolutely true, but there are many caveats, exceptions and asterisked footnoting going on in my brain. Certainly many could take this as carte blanche and defend rampant selfishness and reckless douchebaggery, weak argument though that may be. If I am tempted towards harming someone, my soul would grow exponentially more ill if I gave into that temptation. So let's just rule out giving into any temptations involving robbing, maiming, abusing, or killing anyone, m'kay? In the original context, Wilde is talking about how society sets up a code of "morality" that forces a great number of people to live deceptive lives in which they pretend to abide by the code but instead are secretly breaking it. Living a lie is very stressful and the ripple effect is detrimental to not only one's own psychological health in terms of unnecessary guilt and self-recrimination, but it also affects the health of society as a whole with far-reaching repercussions of pent-up frustrations spilling over into violence, overindulgence in response to forbidden temptations, lost jobs, broken families, and just a whole lot of hurt all around. Wilde was a successful poet and playwright enjoying high society life in Victorian Britain when he was accused by his male lover's father of "posing as a sodomite." He sued the accuser for slander and lost. A guilty verdict on the charge of sodomy at that time meant life imprisonment and a lesser "gross indecency" conviction garnered a two-year hard labor sentence. He received the latter judgement and his career went down in ruin. Ironically, had he not sued his accuser, probably nothing would have happened. By attempting to deny an accusation Wilde knew to be true, he brought about his own professional demise. Prison humiliated and humbled Wilde and caused him to reflect on his former indulgent lifestyle:

"Desire at the end was a malady, a madness or both. I grew careless of the lives of others. I took pleasure where it pleased me and passed on. I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character...I ceased to be Lord over myself. I was no longer captain of my soul."

- Oscar Wilde, De Profundis

If we take both quotes together we get the most nuanced meaning for tarot's great tempter. Whereas the first quotation is true, the second is also true and a warning that we must use the first with care and wise judgment. While he still maintained the social laws were unjust and unhealthy, Wilde also recognized that if we indulge our temptations without thought to the effects on ourselves and others, we risk losing our personal freedom. And there we have it: XV The Devil whose message would best be compared to Polonius' advice to his son in Shakespeare's Hamlet: "To thine own self be true." Polonius was not advocating reckless pursuit of sensual indulgence, as that would have been harmful to his son and disloyal to his son's self. Instead, he was telling him that he must first take care of himself so that he could be in the position to take care of others. Just like the flight attendants tell us to please make sure to secure your own mask before assisting others, if we neglect our own selves and souls, we can be of no service to the ones we hope to help.

The balance is a delicate one, sure. How do we know when we are crossing the line from healthy self-care to selfish harm? Wilde's observation holds a tremendous clue: when you risk losing your freedom, when the thing desired or the desire itself begins to control you instead of the other way around. But sometimes yielding is exactly what we need to do because the temptation itself has become the problem and doing what we want to do, consequences be damned, is the healthiest choice. If one's fight against temptation has resulted in living a lie, that lie itself is the Devil's bondage. Ciro's Devil must remove the helmet to see and so must we when dealing with temptation. If we refuse to examine the ripple effect of our yielding to this tempting thing, we cannot know if it will be harmful or not, nor will we care. When temptation arises, the Devil card gives the best advice because it prompts us to examine our motivations and ultimately urges us to choose wisely for our soul's best interest.

Intuition Needs Your Input

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 03:25:00 +0000

What exactly is this magical, ineffable thing we call "intuition?" For the last several years intuition research has proven and dis-proven its own theories like a tennis match. I'm glad it is being studied even if no hard and fast conclusions have been made. A dictionary definition of intuition states: "direct perception of truth, fact, etc., independent of any reasoning process; immediate apprehension." Intuition exists, of that there is no doubt. Just ask any seasoned doctor or business person. If a person works in a field or endeavor long enough, they will undoubtedly experience times when they just "know" the answer and it usually happens when they feel pressured to make a snap judgement. There's no time to rationally process and think through the situation, they suddenly blurt out the right answer or choose the correct action based only on a "gut feeling." Science wants to get to the root of this phenomenon.

Professor Gerard Hodgkinson of the Centre for Organisational Strategy, Learning and Change at Leeds University Business School led a study team on intuitive research and they concluded:

"Through analysis of a wide range of research papers examining the phenomenon, the researchers conclude that intuition is the brain drawing on past experiences and external cues to make a decision – but one that happens so fast the reaction is at a non-conscious level. All we’re aware of is a general feeling that something is right or wrong." (University of Leeds. "Go With Your Gut -- Intuition Is More Than Just A Hunch, Says New Research." ScienceDaily, 6 Mar. 2008. Web. 13 Jun. 2011.)

In the article, Professor Hodgkinson cited the recorded case of a Formula One driver who braked sharply when nearing a hairpin bend without knowing why – and as a result avoided hitting a pile-up of cars on the track ahead, undoubtedly saving his life.

“The driver couldn’t explain why he felt he should stop, but the urge was much stronger than his desire to win the race,” explains Professor Hodgkinson. “The driver underwent forensic analysis by psychologists afterwards, where he was shown a video to mentally relive the event. In hindsight he realised that the crowd, which would have normally been cheering him on, wasn’t looking at him coming up to the bend but was looking the other way in a static, frozen way. That was the cue. He didn’t consciously process this, but he knew something was wrong and stopped in time.”

Neuroscientists discovered a few years ago that the human brain has both conscious and unconscious systems for receiving and analyzing sensory impressions. The unconscious takes the sensory impressions and compares them with previous experiential sensory data. Our brains remember much that we don't realize we captured. Along with that data, we also remember if the experience was positive or negative. When presented with a new experience, our brains swiftly and unconsciously assess the situation at hand and predict the outcome. Memories are stored, however, only if they matter to us, if we are somehow committed to the experience in some way. Also, the more variations we have of a similar experience, the more varied the data is stored in the unconscious which is accessed to compare to present situations. Therefore, the longer someone has worked in an area of expertise the more accurate these assessments tend to be.

When my daughter was nine, a routine cold turned into something unknown and quite serious when she complained that her neck hurt. We suspected meningitis, but a long visit to the Emergency Room and a spinal tap ruled that out. Her condition worsened dramatically over the next 48 hours and I took her to her doctor's office very concerned that this wasn't just a "cold in the neck" as the ER docs had said. Her physician shared an office with my boys' pediatrician. Dr. Aaronson was an older doctor and though very respected in the area, some people dismiss the older professionals as outdated or not up on the latest medical techniques. He saw all three of my boys and I grew to trust his instincts as he seemed to make the right decisions for my kids time and time again. My daughter's doctor was not in the office that day so she was seen by a very competent nurse practitioner. A thorough exam showed nothing new, but to be sure she had covered all her bases, the LNP consulted with Dr. Aaronson before sending us home. Without even examining the child himself, Dr. Aaronson directed us to head back to the hospital and insist on an X-Ray of her neck. After much waiting and a minor outburst by me to the negligent ER staff, my daughter's neck X-rays revealed a very swollen and infected lymph node in the back of her neck that was threatening to impede her air passage. Dr. Aaronson's intuition was spot on. The Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist said this sort of thing was very rare and in all his years working at children's hospitals, he had only seen a few cases. How did Dr. Aaronson know? Experience. His unconscious had stored away all the details of all the years of seeing sick children and came up with the right answer for Tori that none of the younger, more sophisticated and newly minted doctors and health professionals could.

Brain research on intuition tends to focus on practical applications of the findings. They are not too concerned with making sure tarot readers give good card readings. They are more focused on finding out how we process information, how we learn best, how we make decisions, etc. However, it stands to reason that the longer we have been doing something the storehouse of images and sensory input grows. There is value in a tarot reader's experience. What also makes sense is how the brain remembers an event, whether it turned out well or not. We remember our good readings and our bad ones, so we tend to unconsciously choose from the outcomes that were good and use that data for the reading at hand. Therefore, we tend to rely more and more on our intuitive judgements because when we used them before, they worked. We didn't know how they worked, we only knew they did. We are left only with a physical sensation or simply a general "knowing" that something is right or wrong.

However, intuitive decision making isn't necessarily better or more keen than conscious decision making. In fact, scientists haven't found any qualitative difference between them. Sometimes intuition is wrong and sometimes we make the wrong conscious decision, too. What's really cool about intuitive process is it happens so quickly and behind-the-scenes that it can seem otherworldly. The times intuitive thinking is most valuable is in those snap-decision moments when we just don't have time to deliberate. Tarot reading is like that. You have the querant waiting expectantly on the other side of the table, the cards are staring you in the face, you have to say something soon. Of course your conscious mind is at work, sorting through what you know about the cards, what you have learned and retain consciously. But your unconscious mind is also really busy sifting through the past readings you've done, too. It's also rifling through your own personal experiences that the imagery evokes in you. It does this in literally seconds. Seven seconds before you consciously know what your decision is, your brain has already predicted it. By the time it comes out of your mouth, your unconscious has already patted itself on the back smugly, "I knew she'd say that."

So if you want to be a better tarot reader, read more tarot. But also, and maybe more importantly, live a life full of experiences and meaning. Feed your unconscious storehouse with sensory rich data. Hone your skills, keep doing what you love to do, gain experience in your endeavors. Lars-Erik Björklund, author of a 2008 dissertation in education research from Linköping University in Sweden explained, "We need to see, feel, smell, hear, taste, and experience with our senses. This collection of data can’t be replaced by studying course literature,” he writes. “Experience is under-evaluated today, and this is perhaps because we haven’t understood this type of tacit knowledge. Now we know, thanks to brain researchers.” ( Linköping University. "Intuition Can Be Explained." ScienceDaily, 2 Jul. 2008. Web. 13 Jun. 2011.)

Also referenced:
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. "Decision-making May Be Surprisingly Unconscious Activity." ScienceDaily, 15 Apr. 2008. Web. 13 Jun. 2011.

University of New South Wales. "Complex Decision? Don't Sleep On It." ScienceDaily, 11 Aug. 2008. Web. 13 Jun. 2011.

Tarot & Music: Perfect Partners

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 22:34:00 +0000

Both music and tarot are such powerful communicators. Many times when I hear a song, I naturally associate certain tarot images with either the song itself or phrases within the song. To illustrate what I mean I created this video (with full credit to all the artists at the end of the clip):

Here's the link for those unable to watch the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aHd8RaRQAg

Post Rapture Wrap Up

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Sun, 22 May 2011 21:02:00 +0000

I'm going to assume you've heard the Christian Rapture didn't happen on schedule, and if you haven't, a quick websearch will yield the info. The source of the claim was Family Radio, ( as of this writing, the website is down) specifically its founder, Harold Camping, who insisted his [mis]calculations on Biblical prophesies pinpointed May 21, 2011 as the day of the Rapture: the day when Jesus would come and supernaturally vacuum up all Christian believers and deposit them in heaven as a prelude to the end of the world. All of the hubbub surrounding this non-event had me re-visiting places and theories and ideas that I hadn't for some time. Bear with me while I process these thoughts.

As usual, most people were poking fun and mocking before May 21 and now a lot of people are angry at Camping. That's what happens to prophets, false or real. It doesn't matter what they say, until what they predict actually happens, every prophet gets treated in the same manner. There is no justifiable reason to believe someone whose predictions have never come to pass and Camping has made this kind of prediction before. Though, in the days before May 21, underneath some of the playful mocking I felt and heard expressed an undercurrent of fear. What if he's right? Nah, it's all too ridiculous and based on very sketchy theology and bogus number crunching. Those people are crazy. But what if he's right? Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Pishaw, do you know how many doomsday predictions there have been? Thousands! Maybe millions! They've all been wrong. He's wrong, I tell you. But it could happen. Anything can happen. Yes, and I could be turned into a toad by an evil witch because there are books that foretell that sort of thing happening.

What irked me most was not the prediction itself but the attitude of the prophet. As tarot readers, we understand predictions. We're well aware that predictions are hit or miss, like the weather. We know that probable outcomes are not a concrete certainty. In Camping's predictions there was no humility, no understanding that he could be wrong (a "tiny miniscule chance" that he could be wrong is all he would admit). There was no acknowledgement that he is but a finite dude in human clothing that can't see with the eyes of the God he believes. I've studied the Bible, Christian theology and history, as well as various non-canonical writings. More importantly, I've spent time among evangelical, fundamentalist Christians. I was a part of that world once and I know how Camping got his listeners to embrace his theories. It was built, scripture verse by verse with years of indoctrination into a mindset and belief system that made it "rational" and "sensible" and entirely believable to many people. If you're coming into it at this juncture, never having experienced what it is to be taught and to believe the foundational pieces to this colossal gaff, it all seems so unbelievably stupid.

First of all, the one thing that will get my defenses up is stereotyping of Christians, even though I've been known to do it myself in frustration. I don't identify as a Christian anymore, so it's not personal knee-jerking. Stereotyping any group is pretty ignorant, but with Christians it completely misses the mark because of Christianity's inherent factionalism. It's not enough to say, "Oh, I know some really decent Christians." That's like saying, "I have some Black friends." With very public misfires such as this recent non-Rapture it's quite easy and convenient to simply dismiss Camping and those who believed him as ignorant, gullible fanatics. While those who took their belief to the road may reasonably qualify as "fanatics" I would not say they were gullible or ignorant. Fanatics are simply people who got their Wands lit up and fanatics are quite often those who change the world. Gullibility implies one is easily deceived or duped because of a lack of intelligence. While these folks were deceived and duped, it wasn't easy and they aren't stupid. They weren't even credulous, which implies being persuaded to believe something unlikely but unsupported by evidence. Evidence is what apologists are all about. For all the people who publicly proclaimed belief in the May 21 Rapture, there were many more who secretly believed but who felt sheepish about coming out about it. Even more entertained it as a distinct possibility. Why? Because of the evidence, which is quite persuasive if you happen to believe certain foundational theories.

Most Christians don't really dig that deeply into the mind-y apologetic stuff, but a good many do. Usually they are the really gifted and brilliant ones, ones whose minds need such provoking. You know, the Swords types of people. There are lots more Cups people in Christianity. Christianity can feel really good. I remember feeling relief that, after all the uncertainty and questioning, I had finally been shown the answers to life's problems or at least the means to find them in the Bible. It felt good to belong to a community that welcomed me and accepted me. It felt good to sing and worship. It was reassuring to know that voice I sometimes heard inside didn't qualify me as schizophrenic, that it was indeed God's Holy Spirit guiding me. All these qualities and more filled the cups inside of me. Fiery Wands folks are usually found in the Evangelical and Charismatic camps, but they're everywhere. Passion and zeal for their spiritual beliefs prompt them to do some pretty wild things, but they also provide the inspiration for change and reaching out to others. They'll let the Pentacles people tend to the homeless and hungry but they were the ones that got the program started. Me, I'm more a Swords type, and while it was my searching and curious mind that led me into Christianity, and despite the initial emotional satisfaction, that same inquisitive mind led me out. Out of the labels and boxes and debates and mind-numbing, hair-splitting, morally repugnant, contradictory, sometimes nonsensical theological web that is The Church. It has taken years to unravel the knots, but I took some really good stuff with me.

The funny thing about The Church is that it doesn't really exist. It never did. Before it even got off the ground there were splinters and cells and branches and offshoots. The writings of the apostles in the New Testament clearly show theological disagreements among them that resulted in marked divisions of factions. While one group clearly became more popular and ended up codifying the body of writings we know today as The Holy Bible, the Reformation in the 1500's brought some brutal editing of that book. Gnostic Christians have been contributing to the divisions since the early days as well, bringing into play the "other" Gospels such as Thomas, Judas, and Mary Magdalene's. Over the last two thousand years a lot of energy in these groups has gone into proving each other wrong. The varied sects of Christianity have continued to divide even more and there is now exponentially more arguing and debating over the minutiae of Scripture. If one spends any time among Christian apologists, one should be prepared to give one's position in titles before you can begin the discussion. Are you Reformed? Calvinist? Arminian? Are you Evangelical? Are you a Dispensationalist? What about Pre-Trib or Post? Forget that, are you a Preterist? A Universalist? What's your stance on baptism, sprinkled or immersion? Infant or age-of accountability? What do you believe about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit? Are they for today or did they cease after Pentecost? Clearly this goes way beyond Catholic versus Protestant, Gnostic or Orthodox. Each of these positions rely heavily on Biblical prooftexting and are likewise each very persuasive to the intelligent mind. However, they oppose one another. One cannot be, for example, both Arminian and Calvinist as they negate each other, even though one might agree with concepts in both theories.

The entire construct of Camping's Rapture date was based on a "new earth" creationist theory which places the date of earth's creation at around 6,000 BCE plus or minus 2,000 years. There are many problems with this, one of which is that the ancient civilization of Egypt began prior to the time assigned to the creation of man. Per the creationists, that's a technicality and those carbon daters have it all wrong because natural earth events, acts of God, like floods and volcanoes tend to speed up geological processes. Both creationists and evolutionists agree that evolution is impossible with a "young earth" perspective, which suits creationists just fine since they don't believe in evolution anyway. In order to accept Camping's evidence, one would first have to believe Genesis happened literally. While that may seem far-fetched to many, the Christian literal belief system is based on a belief in a God that can do anything. Any Thing. What other kind of god is worthy of worship and devotion? So while the stories in the Bible may seem unbelievable, a literalist Christian will believe them because God is capable of doing unbelievable things. In order to even begin to accept Camping's evidence, one would have to already accept as fact that God exists, is Omnipotent, and the creationist position of a "young earth." Lots of Christians already believe those things. It's heresy in many circles to not believe them. Because there are no assigned dates in the early books of the Bible, the first known date is at the beginning of King Saul's reign over Israel in 1020 BCE which creationists then work backwards from to arrive at their year of earth's creation. It is done through estimates of generations, the time of Judges, genealogies, etc. They didn't just pull a date out of their underwear, but they do limit themselves to what is contained in the Bible, which they consider infallible and the only reliable source of truth. Camping took on the arduous task of calculating these dates and ended up with May 21, 2011 and presented his work as evidence. For someone who already accepts certain foundational arguments, the evidence is quite persuasive. For everyone else, it's nonsense. But it isn't ignorant, it's just...unlikely.

The evidence doesn't rely entirely on dates and calculations of creation. Current events that appear to fulfill prophesy are also trotted out. Scriptures that seem to predict present day earthquakes, wars, and the Internet, even though they were likely already fulfilled a long time ago, are given as evidence that the End Times are imminent or already here. Here is where things get messy. I remember the first time I read Revelation as a Christian. It terrified me. I couldn't understand how anyone could receive comfort from that book. It's a horrifying roller-coaster ride of devastation and destruction. So what that the Christians may be spared some of the harsher scenes, it's brutal. It seemed to me that everything Jesus talked about in the Gospels was negated as he dishes out torment to his enemies. In time, I was indoctrinated into reconciling the Jesus of the Gospels with the Jesus of Revelation, who, by the way, is a favored representation of some men who feel uncomfortable with the submissive wuss of the Gospels. Everything is set to rights when Badass Revelation Jesus comes back with a sword, kicking heathen and demon ass and taking names. Redemption indeed. I grew up during the Cold War era and the nuclear warning sirens still went off every Wednesday. We believed the Russians could wipe us out at any time, and we them. One could only hope one died in the initial atomic blast as the picture painted of a post-nuclear war world was hellish and miserable. I imagined the Tribulation like that. I could never fully reconcile the tenets of the Gospels to this last book of the Bible. It's like the angry Zeus-like God (and his Pantheon) of the Old Testament makes an encore appearance, and after all is said and done, a glittering city appears for the believers and evil is vanquished, and we all live happily ever after, curtain closes, The End. What?

In order to reconcile anything, including monkeys flying out of my butt, I had to believe God would and could do Any Thing. I finally got to the place where I couldn't do that anymore. I couldn't speak peace with God in one sentence and callously care less that "evildoers" were destined to burn in hell for eternity because they didn't jump on the Jesus Bus soon enough. I never could accept that most of the human race were living walk-on parts in this drama but destined for hell because they aren't among God's elect. I could no longer abide the contradictory logic that on the one hand told me all my sins, past, present, future, were forgiven, but God's arms wouldn't reach past a certain point if I decided to keep sinning. Nor did it make any sense that if Jesus defeated Satan on the Cross and released the captive prisoners of the devil, then why were Christians warning about the devil duping me now? Grace is amazing, but you better watch your step because God may decide to rescind it if He gets fed up with your sorry self. The most honest Christians are the ones who see the inconsistencies in the interpretations and teachings and simply throw up their hands and say, "Look, we can't know for sure, but I believe because Jesus has spoken to my heart, and I've trusted God's voice inside of me. That's all I know for sure. Meanwhile, I know God loves us and I love God's creation, the people and the earth and life itself. I'm just going to attempt to live that." My Christian intellectual finds unearthed so many more questions than answers but I'm content with unanswered questions now. I feel no pressing need to reconcile what happens in life to any predetermined code or theology. We're all in this together and any one of us could get it right or wrong at any given time.

I sincerely hope this non-Rapture experience proves to be enlightening for some people, but Christians are a fairly stubborn lot. That comes, in part, from having beliefs rooted in some good, solid evidence, or at least what appears to be evidence. What many Christians fail to fully appreciate about their faith is that it isn't, or shouldn't be, based on evidence but is itself the evidence. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1) Faith in what you believe is the outward manifestation of that belief. You don't need numbers and dates and calamities and prophecy fulfillment to know God is real to you. What more evidence does one need than that within your own heart and life? If you're still seeking outward evidence, fine, but that's not faith. And having a solid faith doesn't mean nothing catastrophic will happen to you, but a calm in the middle of the storm. There really is no way to prepare for major disruption on earth. No emergency kit will help when a 9 point something earthquake hits. Only love for one another, people helping each other get through the day, helps anything. And isn't that what we're told Jesus gave as the one and only commandment that sums up all of the Law and the Prophets commentaries combined? "Love one another as I have loved you." (John 13:34 & 15:12) Camping isn't the only one that needs to brush up on that.

And if to you all of this was simply another "look at the Christians being stupid again" event, carry on. I won't defend indefensible acts. I only felt obliged to say it really isn't ignorance or gullibility that is on display. Just human fallibility dressed up like faith. And the Fool, often a symbol for Jesus, always comes in to say the Emperor has no clothes.

Tarot Court in the Stars

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Sat, 07 May 2011 18:33:00 +0000

Recently, a 78 Notes reader, Tabitha, commented to me that while she'd always identified with the Queen of Wands, astrologically/elementally speaking she might be more the Queen of Swords given that she is a Pisces sun with Gemini rising, due to the base water element of all Queens and her water sign of Pisces and the air element of her rising sign Gemini and Swords. I found her comment really interesting because, though I am no astrologer and Tabitha and I may be straying off the charts (pun intended), it got me thinking about the various planetary elemental associations with the tarot court. Maybe other tarot readers have already discovered this and written about it, I don't know, so I apologize if I am reinventing someone else's wheel. As far as tarot and astrology goes, my interaction with the combination is fairly limited, though I always love to hear how others work with them together.

If you do not know the planetary alignments of your date, time, and place of birth, you can access one of these useful charts for free at various websites such as AstroDienst. That site also has a clickable chart with valuable information about what each planet in a chart means and specific descriptions regarding the placements of your particular planets. Useful for we astrology novices who really can't remember what Pluto does for you.

To associate your sun sign with a court card, your sun sign element and your rising sign would give you the two elements for that association. For example, my sun is in Libra and my rising is Aries. Libra is an air sign and Aries is a fire sign. Air is the base element for all tarot kings and wands is the suit of fire, so my Sun/Rising tarot card would be King of Wands. This may be challenging to identify with because we naturally gravitate toward our own gendered court card, women identifying with Queens and men with Kings, so this moves a lot of us out of that predetermined box. The gender and ages of the courts aren't supposed to be taken literally anyway.

Springboarding off of Tabitha's musings, I wondered if I could do this with other planets, such as Mercury, which rules the way we communicate. I am Mercury in Libra so that is air/air. Therefore my Mercury tarot court card would be King of Swords which gives me clues about how my mind works and how I communicate with others. Venus in Scorpio would yield a King of Cups or a Queen of Swords modality in love and relationships with its air/water combination. My moon is in Taurus, so my basic emotional level would be King of Pentacles and/or Page of Swords with its air/earth combination.

I thought to combine the planetary element with the sign element rather than the Sun sign element, but there isn't anything close to a consensus on which element is associated with each planet. For example, although Mercury rules communication, it isn't necessarily an "air planet." It rules two signs, Gemini, which is an air sign and Virgo, an earth sign. Here is where I usually get frustrated with overlaying any other system on top of tarot because they don't neatly fit without bending and compromising one system or the other. While the associations are interesting and give much food for thought and introspection, I would not grasp them too tightly or identify too strongly. If the shoe doesn't fit, don't wear it. Remember, we are just experimenting here.

Next step -- associating your planetary court cards within the twelve astrological houses. Once you have your planetary court card associations, you can them use them within your chart to see how those qualities interact with the houses. Using one's astrological chart, lay out the designated court cards (you would need more than one tarot deck because court cards will likely be repeated throughout your chart) where they appear on the different houses and determine how these court cards would behave and interact within those placements. For more info on the meanings of the houses, you can simply web search "meanings of the houses" and find a wealth of sites that explain them. For example, my Venus is not only in Scorpio but also in the 8th House which is the house of death, rebirth, and others resources. That house shows how I deal with separation and loss, how I renew and rebuild, and how I deal with legacies, inheritance, taxes, loans, etc. Therefore, using a King of Cups as my Sun/Venus card in the 8th House, that can show me, based on what I know to be the King of Cups qualities, how I tend to deal with those issues.

Whether these associations work out to be accurate portrayals is really up to the individual to decide. But I think because we hold within ourselves all the qualities of all the court cards in varying measure, it may be truly enlightening. Keep in mind also that no one planet, house, or court card is a summation of your entire person, that each placement or association merely describes a piece of your own personal puzzle. While some of the results may be totally on target, others may leave you scratching your head. In the end, what can we do with this information? Just as I do not believe tarot determines your fate, neither does astrology nor any combination thereof. While we may have specific tendencies inherent in our personalities, they only limit us as much as we allow them to. The revealing of these tendencies is valuable information because once we know what we're working with, our strengths and weaknesses, we can use them to our advantage in a conscious manner.

Layers of Meaning

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 15:10:00 +0000

Rarely in life is anything very simple. We live in complex societies in which our lives take on many roles, activities and interests. We, ourselves, are multidimensional having physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual components. We live and move among people who are just as complex and and living equally multifaceted lives. It's a huge, multi-layered web of interconnectedness. For such beings living in this kind of world, tarot cards wouldn't be very helpful if they each had just one static meaning or application. It might make reading tarot a whole lot easier, but not very useful. It would be like sending an "e-gift" of a picture of a delicious dinner to a hungry person. Nice sentiment, but the belly is still growling.

One of the first things a tarot reader discovers is that each card has many meanings. This presents a challenge for novice and seasoned readers alike. To determine when a card means this or that, and to figure out which of the many interpretations apply, most readers and teachers will advise, "Intuition. Use your intuition." But what if I don't have intuition? Don't be silly, we all have intuition, we just need to tap into it. Ok, so how do I do that? Listen to your gut. My gut says it wants a cookie but I don't think that's what the card is saying. Sometimes the predominant meaning shines forth in glorious clarity while all the other meanings fade into the background. Most of the time, though, it takes some consideration.

What has helped me is to recognize that one card may be addressing several aspects of a person's life and be giving advice on more than just one area. For example, a court card that can be representative of another person or aspects of the querant's personality, or a more literal thing such as a message or travel. Consider that it may be addressing all of those potential areas. You don't always have to choose between them. Even when the reading is primarily focusing on a person's career, for instance, the card in question may be speaking about their romantic partner. We don't live our lives in separate designated vacuums, our jobs affect our personal lives and vice versa. The court card could be advising a certain approach for that situation at work but it may also be showing that the person you went on that date with last week is going to call. Not having to choose between those meanings is wonderfully freeing. If you see several meanings in one card, then say so. You're not being a wishy-washy reader, you are seeing the multiple layers and dimensions of the card and the intersections of those meanings in your querant's life. If the reading is specific to a topic, you don't want to stray too far afield from it, of course. By all means keep the positional subject in mind, too. It has to make logical sense to the spread positions and original question. However, if the reading is a general one with few topical boundaries, one should be open to many layers and possibilities.

I'm not recommending listing all the possible meanings of the Sun card for your querant and letting them choose which one applies to their situation. They could open a book and get that for themselves. I'm saying tell them the Chariot shows they are determined to get this thing accomplished in the most efficient way possible, but also mention there may be some travel coming up not necessarily directly related to that issue. For all you know this person may experience a family emergency and will need to take a quick unexpected trip which, naturally, affects both their home and work life. The cards may not show the emergency but only the travel. Say what you see, even if you think it doesn't make sense. That's where intuition comes into play. Your intuition is still picking and choosing among the available meanings, but you are not limiting yourself to just one choice.

Our lives are anything but linear. We may track time in a linear fashion but that's somewhat misleading. We're always multitasking, carrying on many thought-streams at once, and often physically doing several things at once, too. As I am writing this, for example, I am thinking of an errand I need to run at a specific time today. I am also drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette. I'm wondering if I have time to go out for a walk. My ankle itches, so I scratch it. I'm recalling various readings where the cards spoke to more than one area of the querant's life. I talk to one of my kids. Even in this moment I am living in several dimensions. In order for tarot to be truly helpful to we who live this kind of existence rife with a complexity we take for granted and most of the time don't even notice, it must be capable of addressing all of these aspects simultaneously, too.

Do You Kindle?

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 21:08:00 +0000

I would love to own a Kindle. So for all the Kindle users, I have made 78 Notes To Self available for download.

Enjoy!

Beyond Worlds Radio

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 15:26:00 +0000

I had a great time as a guest on the award-winning internet radio show Beyond Worlds with hosts Donnleigh and Theresa Reed, The Tarot Lady. If you've never listened to this show, it is a fabulous resource for tarot education for both novice and seasoned readers alike. They consistently offer very solid and interesting content and host a wide range of guests from the tarot community, from well known tarot professionals to tarot people you may not have heard of yet. While the show is aired, there is a chatroom on the site that one can participate in and the hosts and guests will often answer questions posed in the chatroom. Some shows offer call-in readings, others are more "class" oriented where they present a topic and discuss. Last night's show topic was The Court Cards.

Listen to internet radio with Beyond Worlds Tarot on Blog Talk Radio

Ten Things Your Tarot Reader Won't Tell You

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 17:23:00 +0000

Ten things your Tarot Reader may not tell you:

1. I don't know whether the reading I will give you will be helpful or not. I sure hope it is, but even when we have a clear understanding what we are asking and I have a clear understanding of the cards, the cards themselves may not be extremely helpful. They may tell you what you already know and the reading can feel like a waste of time.

2. I don't always get psychic information. Tarot readers are not always psychic just as all psychics are not proficient in tarot. I will occasionally get an unexpected nugget of information that comes totally out of left field, such as a time or date or other specific detail that I couldn't have known naturally, but in general I don't rely on these because they are so random.

3. I am not a mind reader. I cannot read your mind, so if you want to know what the cards say about a certain situation, you have to tell me about that situation. If you hold back crucial information because you are testing my powers, you may not get important information you need. This is because the message from the cards is filtered through my own conscious awareness, so if I don't know about it, I'm not going to address it.

4. I want you to ask questions about your reading. I prefer my reading clients to be actively engaged in the reading process. I know sometimes it seems like a straightforward exchange in which you pay for a tarot reading and I deliver it, but a reading isn't like buying a cake at a bakery, it's about you and your life. It is more akin to ordering a fine suit and having it customized and tailored to you. I want your input during the entire process. I love feedback, both positive and negative.

5. You can't do what I do. A tarot reader invests a vast amount of time, money, and energy into study of the cards and into honing their reading abilities and techniques. I am not reciting your reading from a list of card meanings from a reference book. Certainly anyone can do that. I also have a knack for this and I am using my talent and gifts in reading your cards. Everyone can sing, but that doesn't mean everyone should go on American Idol. There's a reason I get paid for what I do. Even if you do read tarot quite skillfully yourself, I lend objectivity as well as my own unique intuitive insight to your reading that you can't give yourself.

6. I hate when people ask for free readings. I am a professional and I am not always on the clock. Also, see #5. I deserve the same respect you would afford any other professional. Sure, if you have friends in various professions, you might ask their experienced opinion on various things, and I don't mind that, but if you wouldn't ask your doctor friend for a free exam, don't ask me for a free reading. If I offer a free reading, that's one thing, but my services aren't usually free.

7. Unless I advertise other services, don't assume I provide them. Some tarot practitioners also have skills and services in other metaphysical arts but not all of us do. Some practice astrology, numerology, reiki, magick spells, etc., but a tarot reader isn't necessarily going to have knowledge of other practices. So if you provide a tarot reader with your astrological or numerological information, she may have no idea what to do with it.

8. I sometimes miss things. The cards tell a story and I will do my best to squeeze every bit of nuance and all information I can for you out of them, but I am human and I might miss something. So when a situation plays out in a way that, in hindsight, the cards clearly pointed to but I neglected to mention, I feel bad. I wish I had seen that coming. Sometimes, the cards don't warn of an event and it happens anyway. That's not my fault. Tarot is far from perfect. It's like weather prediction. Sometimes that thunderstorm moves in out of nowhere. I am not perfect. I can miss things. I make mistakes.

9. I'm not going to snoop on your friends. Don't ask me to read about your neighbors or your cousin or The Other Woman. It's not that I can't read on their situations, I can. But of what benefit is that to you? How would you even know if what I am saying is true? And how does this information help you decide what to do in your own situation? Expect your reading to focus on you, primarily, and to help you take control of your own life by providing confirmation, affirmation, and positive suggestions for change.

10. Don't lean on me, I'm not your crutch. If you start ordering multiple readings from me on too many subjects, I'm going to start refusing to read for you. The purpose of tarot reading is to empower you to both rely on your own intuition and to give you tools for making your own choices. It is a powerful vehicle for clearing out the mental and emotional clutter and its purpose is to lend clarity. Tarot doesn't make your decisions for you. So if you start to feel like you "need" a reading on practically everything, that's not healthy and I will refuse to read for you until a certain amount of time has passed.

Tune In!

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 22:50:00 +0000

I am totally psyched about joining Donnaleigh and Theresa Reed on tomorrow night's broadcast of the award winning Beyond Worlds Tarot radio show. We will be discussing the Tarot Court and generally having a blast. Come join the fun!

Ginny Hunt - Order in the Courts!

Magical Tarot Menagerie Part I

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 20:19:00 +0000

Because tarot cards are a collection of pictures and pictures themselves are symbols, I am fascinated with the details within these cards that represent various themes and ideas. Just as a writer will carefully choose words, which are symbols of ideas, an artist will carefully choose images as a symbol to communicate ideas. While we are free to associate any of these items with any feeling or idea, there is a historical basis to many symbols that can help us decipher the meaning inherent in the image. Most tarot decks feature animals in many of the cards and I've found it interesting to research the commonly designated symbolic meanings for these various creatures. Not all cultures are in agreement with animal symbolism. The same animal may be feared or revered (or both) in different traditions. If the deck is based on a particular cultural tradition, it is best to research what the animal meant to that group in the time period of the deck's origin. If one is using an historical tarot, or one based on an historical deck, the Christian/European pagan meanings will be more revealing. If one is studying a Celtic or Native American inspired deck, it would be useful to research the animal imagery associated with those cultures. Also, because the historical decks featured scenic trumps and non-scenic pips, the animal symbolism on pips, or Minor Arcana, would logically stem more from esoteric tradition, possibly from the Egyptian or Greek cultures, but also Indo-European pagan as well.

The Medieval culture in which tarot was developed was based primarily on Christian teaching, but the Renaissance had such a widespread influence on the thinking and philosophies of the time. Scholars and religious teachers turned to the classical stories of the Greek and Roman pantheon and brought new meaning and application to them, interweaving Biblical morality into the stories. The root of much of the day's philosophy had its direct origins in ancient Greece. The context in which people saw the animals was informed by a combination of history, tradition, and religious teaching. Bestiaries were quite popular in the Medieval period. Compendiums of pictures and text about animals, both real and imaginary, bestiaries served a religious function with moralistic stories associated with each creature. The symbolic nature of each animal was largely drawn from Biblical references and/or traditions and teachings.

I have picked out a few of the common animals found in many traditional tarot deck trumps and researched their historical meanings based on the era in which the cards were created. This is by no means an exhaustive list and you may find additional meanings and interpretations as well as additional animals, depending on the deck.

Dog:

In the earliest Visconti-Sforza trionfi deck, the Fool does not have a dog. Yet another deck, the Tarocchi of Mantegna, not exactly a tarot deck, per se, but more a hermetic set of prints that have close similarity to the archetypes in tarot decks, the Poor Man card is shown with dogs, particularly one attacking his leg as we see in later tarot decks such as in the Marseilles versions and all the way up to 20th century Rider-Waite-Smith decks. The presence of a dog near a poor man is common in Medieval art because they would often attack beggars that came near to houses for a handout. So the symbolism in the dog's presence in the Fool card would seem to indicate that the man is poor and without financial resources. Dogs themselves usually represent faithfulness and guardianship. In the case of the Fool, the dog's loyalty is being expressed by protecting the master's house from intrusion, and not, as commonly thought, toward protecting the Fool from danger. In the Cary-Yale deck there is a small white dog pictured between the couple in the Love card, symbolizing fidelity and commitment. Dogs are also featured in the Marseilles rendition of the Moon card, one dark, one light symbolizing day and night because the moon is not only seen at night but can also often be seen during the day as well. While the moon is seen as very inconstant, the presence of the dogs on the card are a moralistic message to humans to be like the dog and be constantly faithful, stay the course, through inconstant waxing and waning of the times. However, the fact that they are barking at the moon may symbolize more the wasted efforts of energy expended on illusions borne at times of unclear vision.

Eagle:

The Empress displays a shield on which the emblem is the powerful eagle. The wings symbolize protection and speed while the talons and beak assure decimation of enemies. It is seen to have a noble nature and aristocratic air. It has been used as the official symbol of the ancient kings of Persia, Babylon and the Roman legions. The feminine aspect of the card juxtaposed with a very masculine symbolic animal would appear to align this woman with the greatest power of all -- the Venus of the Apocalypse of Christian narrative. The Emperor has a matching shield with the eagle heraldry prominently displayed. One of the qualities of the eagle is its sight, its ability to see prey from a very large distance and calculatingly descend upon it with precision. This kind of sight is attributed to good leaders who are capable of seeing the outcome of their actions in order to determine the best course for the good of all.


US Games

Horse:
The Chariot was originally drawn by horses, not oppositional sphinxes, and carried a woman, not a man. Horses represented wealth and power to the medieval culture. I relate it to the idiom, "If wishes were horses then beggars would ride." Only the wealthy rode horses. Only wealthy had workhorses and riding horses and warhorses. The horses on the Chariot are doubled and so is the speed and ambition. With the horse imagery comes the willingness to work, the power to accomplish and the grace and swiftness to get there quickly. In the Death card, the Grim Reaper is often seen riding, trampling churchmen, bearing a scythe. The horse is usually black, but not always. In this case, the horse is seen as a representation, with its rider, as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. However, it retains its symbolism as something powerful and swift. In most very early decks, a horse was not featured in the Sun card, with the exception of the Vieville Tarot which shows a man riding a white horse under the sun. A male rider on a white horse was a common representation of Christ who, upon his Second Coming, it is prophesied that he will be riding in triumphal glory on a horse: "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him [was] called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war" (Revelation 19:11)

Monkey:
The Wheel of Fortune of the early Marseilles decks replaces the human characters of the Wheel with monkeys. The decks had started toward morphing the human figures on the Wheel to wearing ass ears depicting the foolishness of those who rely on Fortune and then replaced them with donkeys and finally to monkeys. The message is the same: scoundrels and fools.

Lion:

Oswald Wirth Tarot

The Strength card in the Visconti deck shows Hercules and the Nemean lion which he killed as the first labor of the twelve he was to accomplish. The lion has long been a symbol of strength and courage which makes it a worthy opponent for the heroic Hercules. No one expected him to survive the encounter with the lion. Later versions replace the man with a woman to represent the virtue Fortitude, sometimes with and sometimes without the lion, but the iconography of the lion often showed the woman subduing it by holding its jaws, reminiscent of the Biblical hero, Samson, whose strength was legendary. The lion can also often be seen in the World card as the emblem of St. Mark, the apostle writer of the Christian gospel bearing his name. However, that lion has more of an identification with iconography of the four Evangelists than with the usual symbolic imagery of lions. That one has a name and is therefore unique.

Grimaud Marseilles

Crab:
The Moon card, from an early Cary deck, features a crab in the water under the moon. Its association with Cancer and the Moon is astrologically obvious, but it is also a symbol of inconstancy. The crab walks both forward and backwards in a sideways fashion and so seems indeterminate as to where it may go. Likewise, the moon was also seen as inconstant, always changing, waxing, waning, appearing bigger then smaller, visible at night but also sometimes during the day.

In a following post I will continue the animal hunt with animals found in the court cards and Minor Arcana in various decks. The symbolism shifts a bit in the later esoteric decks because the animal symbolism was often derived from distinct astrological and/or Kaballistic symbolism rather than cultural.

The Real Deal

noreply@blogger.com (Ginny) — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 04:20:00 +0000

For a long time he lived in the toy cupboard or on the nursery floor, and no one thought very much about him. He was naturally shy, and being only made of velveteen, some of the more expensive toys quite snubbed him. The mechanical toys were very superior, and looked down upon every one else; they were full of modern ideas, and pretended they were real. The model boat, who had lived through two seasons and lost most of his paint, caught the tone from them and never missed an opportunity of referring to his rigging in technical terms. The Rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything, for he didn't know that real rabbits existed; he thought they were all stuffed with sawdust like himself, and he understood that sawdust was quite out-of-date and should never be mentioned in modern circles. Even Timothy, the jointed wooden lion, who was made by the disabled soldiers, and should have had broader views, put on airs and pretended he was connected with Government. Between them all the poor little Rabbit was made to feel himself very insignificant and commonplace, and the only person who was kind to him at all was the Skin Horse.

The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled.

"The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always." -- from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

Ever since I read this book to my firstborn, I have been captivated by this simple dialogue in the nursery. Becoming real is hard. It's harder than what is commonly heard today as "being real" because "being real" has become just another excuse to be rude. Like, "Hey, your breath stinks. No offense, I'm just being real." It's tacked on the end of a stinging comment meant to somehow soften the blow but which instead punctuates it. Kind of like that guy who says, "Just kidding" at the end of every insult. Becoming real is painful. It involves the kinds of experiences we wish we had been spared. It makes us understand the value of holding our tongues or speaking our minds at the right moments. Being real isn't license to lay your issues on everyone else for them to hold. Being real happens through love and love doesn't shit on people. And if love has an accident, it cleans up its own mess. Becoming real involves a good, long, objective look in the mirror and realizing who you are is who you were meant to be. Self-acceptance isn't as easy as it sounds because sometimes it leaves us with a nagging sense of defeat. It requires brutal honesty and assessment of one's true strengths and weaknesses. Making peace with one's own personality and allowing yourself to simply be human can be, well, humbling. It flies in the face of all our conditioning to overcome, push farther, be better, create a new you, to well... be someone else.

I've been thinking a lot about authenticity and being real. At this point in my life, being me is all I know how to do. I don't have enough energy to work up a persona. Trying to be inauthentic is tiring. I tried being inauthentic a few times and I really suck at it. My first job was as a retail sales clerk at a small, independently owned sporting goods store. The owner had just bought a whole load of ski jackets that were, frankly, crap. He was disappointed in their quality, but now that we were stuck with them, we had to sell them. I was helping a customer who was perusing the rack of jackets and when he said they didn't seem so great I agreed. I said, "Yeah, they're not the best, but they're not expensive." My boss took me aside and said, "Aw, c'mon Ginny, you're killing me! I've got to get rid of those jackets!" It wasn't that I couldn't lie, I could. But trying to sell something enthusiastically that I just didn't believe in grated in a very uncomfortable way. My next sales gig was cosmetics. It was an at-home business, so to drum up clients I was supposed to have "shows" and "parties." Which was fine. As long as my clients could try on the makeup and really want to purchase it, I was enthusiastic. But then I was shown how to attract clients while out and about. My coach went up to a random woman in KMart and complimented her. Then she chatted about cosmetics in a girly way. Then she handed the woman her business card and even booked a party right there in the pet food aisle. I don't know about you, but I don't like random people intruding in my personal bubble when I'm shopping, so I couldn't bring myself to do that to others, even if it would score me a sale. Needless to say, I didn't make a lot of money selling cosmetics. If any activity or job requires that I do something completely at odds with my inner values, and they don't have to be "right" or "wrong" values like moral ethics or anything, but just something that goes against my grain, I can't pull it off. Every job has its "Ugh!" factors that we simply get on with, but if this grating activity is essential to doing the job, it's not for me.

I've noticed this inability to fabricate myself getting worse as I get older. It has come with an increasing ability to laugh at myself, be lazy when I feel like it, and figure people will get over whatever imagined slight they may feel was directed at them from me. Sometimes I wonder if I care less, but really, I care more. I am more interested in what makes people feel genuinely alive and happy, but I don't feel it's my obligation to provide it to them. I don't care about who said what to whom and how so-and-so made and ass of him/herself last weekend. I like less clutter in my home and in my head. I appreciate a few good, real friends. If I have one good friend, I count myself blessed. Most of all, I cherish loving someone deeply and irrationally. That's where life gets good.

When I started reading tarot professionally, I brought all of that personal authenticity to my tarot practice. More often than not, it's a good thing. Most people want "the real deal," but sometimes they want smoke and mirrors. Not my problem. It's not what I do. More than delivering authenticity, I want to provoke others to use tarot authentically as well. I like to bring esoteric, airy-fairy concepts down to earth where we can actually use them rather than pontificate about them. Some say tarot history is so dusty and irrelevant, and I can agree if all you do with it is create more stuff for your brain to forget. Fascinating, but who cares? So I find a use for it. I want to bring the symbols of the past right into your life today and show you how to use them to get what you want accomplished. That's what I mean by "authentic tarot." But then again, who would be interested in "fake tarot?" Well, maybe some people:

Card Tricks:
How To Fake A Tarot Card Reading

Who admits to being fake? I mean, who does that? Apart from this company, Genuine Fake Furs, who by the way had to add "genuine" else they would just be false fake furs and who wants those, nobody would go out of their way to advertise their falseness. I'm old enough to remember Kraft Imitation Mayonnaise, which was actually quite tasty, but rarely do we see anything advertising fakery. Nobody would buy it. I recently read that there is aa "new trend" in advertising. It's the "made with real" thing we see everywhere. Made with real or genuine ingredients or materials is hot now. But when has anyone desired fake stuff in their stuff? Dominos Pizza recently started advertising they are now using "real cheese." Makes you wonder what they were using before. When I see a product advertising its "real-ness" it sends up a red flag. What else is in it that isn't real? It's kind of like the movie that's "based on a true story." You just know it's got a lot of made up crap in it. Genuineness is more like that Skin Horse in the nursery. It's unassuming and doesn't boast and swagger. It doesn't show off its genuine parts. It merely is. You may not even notice the real deal at first. It's not usually the shiniest, loudest, or prettiest thing in the room. But when you find it, it's like unearthing buried treasure. It's so beautiful.

So rather than avoiding the fake, it may be wiser to cut a wide berth around those that shout they are "real." Step right up and get a genuine 100% real and authentic tarot reading! Because why? All the others aren't real? You're the only one dishing the straight dope? Others use those fake tarot cards developed after the 16th century, you know. Only the Tarot de Marseilles is genuine. Or perhaps only the Golden Dawn decks yield a truly genuine reading, you know, with their esoteric magic Kabbalah, or however you spell that tree of life system. Only those readers that light candles, properly cleanse their cards and allow the querant to shuffle the deck to enhance the energy infusion into the cards are genuine and true. There is not a single thing wrong with any of these decks or practices. To all of them I nod my unsought approval. If reading a deck rich in historical symbolism and systems sends your fancy into flight, I love you for it. You should do it with everything you are. If your way of tarot reading involves a pack of your own hand-drawn cards and you throw them up in the air and read what falls, to hell with tradition and accepted meanings, then you get on with it. But the second you start claiming your way is more authentic, more real, than any other way, then I will flip you the bird with relish.

The advertisers are right. We do crave real and authentic. We need it. But unless we ourselves become real, we won't ever be able to spot the lie in anything or anyone else.