Opening the tarot
Feb. 20th, 2013 02:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vaneramosStrictly speaking, I do not believe in divination. However, I have always felt drawn to the tarot. The story of my relationship with the occult, religion, mysticism and spirituality might make an interesting novel, but I will not attempt to give an outline here. As things stand now (and have for a number of years) I do not believe in the supernatural or occult. However, symbols fascinate me.
I had a Rider-Waite deck during my teens, but it was lost. During my evangelical Christian period I probably threw it out. Later, during a brief flirtation with paganism, I acquired a lovely Herbal Tarot deck. This was about 16 years ago. The challenge of learning all the card meanings seemed daunting, plus the herbs add an additional layer of symbolism, so I have never actually used it. Finally I became an atheist and could not see any point in using them, nor any particular need to dispose of them. On one or two occasions I half-heartedly attempted to pass the deck along for someone else's use, but frankly I wanted to keep it. So they have resided peacefully in this box all this time.
Recently I've been reviving a kind of morning ritual that includes making tea and writing morning pages with my Smart Pen. I decided to start using the cards as a meditation tool, a way of thinking about projects or problems. I also have a set of Chakra Oracle cards from the same time period. They are nice and simple to use, plastered with useful affirmations, but relatively bland. While dabbling with them recently, what I really wanted to do was start using the Herbal Tarot deck.
This morning I finally spent some time with them. I assembled a Pinterest board of resources to help with this. Most reviewers of the deck recommend using the companion guide, Herbal Tarot: The Spirit of Herbs, to explore the complex meanings of this set. It is out of print, rare and costly, but I broke down and ordered one as an early birthday gift to myself. It probably will not arrive until my birthday. Meanwhile, I do not intend to delay getting to know the cards. So I tried my first spread.
First, I picked a querant card to represent myself. Although the King of Cups (Saw Palmetto) seemed the most logical choice, I felt more drawn to the King of Wands (Cinnamon), a stimulating, creative and courageous character.
That chosen, I dealt a Celtic cross spread. I won't go into detail about how I interpreted the cards, but I was impressed with the fresh perspective they offered.
I had a Rider-Waite deck during my teens, but it was lost. During my evangelical Christian period I probably threw it out. Later, during a brief flirtation with paganism, I acquired a lovely Herbal Tarot deck. This was about 16 years ago. The challenge of learning all the card meanings seemed daunting, plus the herbs add an additional layer of symbolism, so I have never actually used it. Finally I became an atheist and could not see any point in using them, nor any particular need to dispose of them. On one or two occasions I half-heartedly attempted to pass the deck along for someone else's use, but frankly I wanted to keep it. So they have resided peacefully in this box all this time.
Recently I've been reviving a kind of morning ritual that includes making tea and writing morning pages with my Smart Pen. I decided to start using the cards as a meditation tool, a way of thinking about projects or problems. I also have a set of Chakra Oracle cards from the same time period. They are nice and simple to use, plastered with useful affirmations, but relatively bland. While dabbling with them recently, what I really wanted to do was start using the Herbal Tarot deck.
This morning I finally spent some time with them. I assembled a Pinterest board of resources to help with this. Most reviewers of the deck recommend using the companion guide, Herbal Tarot: The Spirit of Herbs, to explore the complex meanings of this set. It is out of print, rare and costly, but I broke down and ordered one as an early birthday gift to myself. It probably will not arrive until my birthday. Meanwhile, I do not intend to delay getting to know the cards. So I tried my first spread.
First, I picked a querant card to represent myself. Although the King of Cups (Saw Palmetto) seemed the most logical choice, I felt more drawn to the King of Wands (Cinnamon), a stimulating, creative and courageous character.
That chosen, I dealt a Celtic cross spread. I won't go into detail about how I interpreted the cards, but I was impressed with the fresh perspective they offered.
