How to begin. Before
you start working with tarot, you need to understand what
happens in divination. The word divination means, quite simply,
that you receive information directly from the Divine. So you
should not imagine that getting messages from the Almighty
cannot happen to a nobody like yourself. In a universe where all
energy manifestations are equal, little old you is just as
important to the Divine as anyone else. So you don't have to be
a Greek sybil or a Hebrew prophet to receive guidance from the
Divine. All you need is skill with an oracular tool, which is
something that anyone can learn.
Recognize
that your oracle will not be right 100% of the time. No
human tool works flawlessly, up to and including oracular tools.
So don't be surprised if your oracle sometimes seems to mislead
you. The good news is that the more you work with tarot, the
better you will be able to interpret what the cards are telling
you. I have experimented with various oracles over the years and
now believe that tarot cards are the most accurate oracular tool
available today. But the only tarot deck worth using is the one
designed by artist Pamela Colman Smith which
was originally published in 1910. This deck is generally known
as the Rider-Waite deck,
the name coming from the deck's Rider Company publishers, and
occultist Arthur Edward Waite,
who hired Smith to design the deck. I prefer to call this deck
the Smith deck after its illustrator since I think it is the
product of her considerable genius and has little or nothing to
do with either the Rider Company or Arthur Edward Waite.
Upright or reversed cards. Next, it is
important for you to read your cards so that they are pulled
either upright or reversed. This means that the first thing you
do with a brand new deck of cards is not just shuffle them but
turn or mix them so that some cards are upright and some
reversed. This insures that you will get better responses. As
for shuffling, I prefer to do the riffle shuffle,
but if you like you can simply stir the cards or try any other
kind of shuffle. You can also turn the entire deck several times
in either direction after completing your shuffle, which will
create an even better chaotic mixture of upright and reversed.
What matters is that you must mix the cards as thoroughly as
possible and get a good blend of upright and reversed cards. And
when you do pull an upside down card, that is how you should
interpret it. So you don't have to be a Greek sybil or a Hebrew
prophet to receive guidance from the Divine. All you need is
skill with an oracular tool, which is something that anyone can
learn.
Pick a quiet
time and space for your reading. You
need to pick a distraction-free space for your reading, out of
range from any kind of disruption, and most especially anything
electronic. So don't even think about divining and listening to
music or the television at the same time. I have also learned
that the enchanted time of day called twilight is usually the
best time for a reading.
Logic before
psychic. You should always think things
through logically before you reach for your oracular tool. The
word logic comes from the Greek word logos, which originally
meant reason or word and to this day refers to the rational
principle that rules the universe. All of which tells me that
logic is another helpful Divine energy and should always be
consulted before you ever go near an oracle. So no matter what
your issue is, you should first think things through as
logically as you can and then reach what you think is the best
possible solution. So you need to think about your issue(s) as
carefully as you can and come to a tentative conclusion about a
potential plan of action or the best way to interpret a
situation before you start working with your oracle. In other
words, you should always try to make your questions
confirmational. This means you should formulate your questions
so they can be answered with a YES or a NO. You don't ask: Which
option should I choose: A or B? Instead you would say, I have
concluded that Option A is the best course of action, am I
correct? Do this, and you will eventually discover that when
both your logical and your psychic energies align themselves
perfectly, you are getting the best possible response from the
Divine about how to solve your problem.
Recite
sacred words. The next step in an
oracular consultation should be the recital of a prayer or a
mantra, or any other kind of sacred words which you find
meaningful. I always recite the Gayatri
Mantra before
I touch the cards, which helps me to focus my energies. The
recitation of sacred words, no matter how brief, will alter your
consciousness and make you more receptive to the energies of the
Divine.
Ask for
Divine protection of your reading. To do
this you should recite the following words:
O Divine Light, if it is for the summum bonum, I ask and give permission that on this day and night and every day and night for the rest of my life, Archangel Michael will protect the space of these readings, that only angels or the Divine will give me information through these cards, and that I thank them for the information which I will receive.
Summum bonum is
Latin for "the supreme good", and this should always be the
intent of your reading. In other words, you need to focus on how
your oracular answer will affect not just you personally, but
the rest of the universe. As both Eastern spiritual traditions
and quantum physics tell us, everything in our universe is
interconnected. So if you want to ask a question like this: I
have concluded that it will be best for both me and my boyfriend
to marry, am I correct? you need to say: It will be best for me,
my boyfriend, and the rest of the universe if we marry, am I
correct? This way, you are acknowledging the reality of
universal interconnection and will receive the best possible
answer.
Pull three
cards only. You only need to pull three
cards to get a clear answer to your question--pulling more will
only muddy the response. And forget about tarot spreads--the
cards themselves are all you need for an answer. Also it is a
good idea (and very old cartomancy advice) to pull the cards
with your left hand, since this stimulates the right or the
intuitive side of your brain.
Interpreting
the cards. You only need to follow a few
general guidelines about how to interpret what you see, as
follows:
Focus on the
energies of the cards you pull. To
determine the meaning of a card, you need to ask yourself
whether the illustration is either conveying positive/benevolent
energy or some kind of harmful/negative energy. Human figures
who are jumping for joy (such as the Three of Cups) obviously
convey the first, while a card like the Five of Pentacles does
not exactly show a fun situation.
Never think
that a particular card is a portent of doom. There
are some scary-looking cards in the Smith deck, such as the
Devil or the Ten of Swords, but these cards are not necessarily
predictions of disaster. When a negative energy card turns up in
a reading, it is usually a sign that you are wrong about
something, or that you need to release something. The Death
card, for example, does not mean that you're about to be hit by
a truck. It usually means that there is something in your life
that you need to kill off, such as a bad habit or an obsession,
or it simply means NO.
Try to
notice how your body responds when you turn over the first
card. The first card you turn over will
probably give you the answer to your question. And the best way
to get this answer is by flashing on the card instead of trying
to interpret it. In other words, try to notice what kind of
physical response you make when you turn over the card.
Generally speaking, if you recoil or go tense when you see the
first card, you are probably seeing a NO. If you feel relief,
you are probably seeing a YES.
The three
most important cards in the deck. As far
as I'm concerned, the three angel cards of the Lovers,
Temperance, and Judgment are the most powerful cards in the
Smith deck. If you pull any of these three cards upright during
a reading, you are almost always seeing a YES response,
regardless of the other cards you pull. Conversely, if you pull
one of the angel cards reversed, you are almost always getting a
NO, also regardless of the other cards you turn over. Like
everything else in tarot, these statements do not hold true all
of the time, but my own experience tells me that an upright
angel=YES and a reversed angel=NO at least 98-99% of the time.
And in my opinion, the three angel cards are the reason why the
Smith tarot deck is so effective. We need to remember that
winged supernatural beings have always been considered to be
messengers of the Divine throughout most of human history, and
not just in the Abrahamic tradition. When you work with the
Smith deck, there is one way to see whether you are truly
receiving Divine messages through the cards: you will start
pulling one of the three angel cards more frequently than is
statistically possible. Here I will admit that an angel card
does not always appear every time you pull three cards to get an
answer to your question, but when you keep seeing them as you
work with this deck, you will realize that something out of the
ordinary is happening. Don't believe me? Try it for yourself and
see what happens. Just make sure you follow all the initial
steps listed above. And what you are going to get is POW!
Pay
attention if other cards repeatedly appear. Sometimes
when you are asking multiple questions of your oracle, not only
will you pull an angel card over and over, you might pull one or
more of the other cards in the deck with equal frequency. If a
particular card keeps turning up as you ask your questions, you
should pay special attention to it, since it will probably
represent the key piece of information that you need.
How to
interpret the other cards. Tarot decks
are divided into three types of cards: major arcana, minor
arcana, and court cards, and these can be interpreted as
follows:
• Major
arcana cards. The major arcana cards are
the twenty-two cards in the deck which usually display a single
figure. These cards, which include the three angel cards, have
the strongest energy in the deck. With the exception of the
Death, Judgement, and the Tower cards, the appearance of an
upright major usually indicates that energies are positive and
that you are getting a YES answer to your question.
• Court
cards. There are sixteen court cards in
the deck, with four cards for each suit: king, queen, knight,
and page. If you pull one of these cards, you should interpret
it as some kind of energy manifestation: the kings put out yang
or active energy, the queens indicate yin or receptive energy,
the knights show some kind of progressive movement, and the
pages indicate newness or a beginning. The suit will then reveal
what kind of energy is manifesting: if you pull one or more Cups
cards, for example, you are dealing with some kind of emotional
issue or solution. Swords indicate communication or the
intellect, Wands are spiritual or creative cards, and Pentacles
are concerned with physical energies or objects in space.
• Minor
arcana cards. There are ten minor arcana
cards in each suit. When you turn over a minor arcana card, you
need to pay attention to what the suit means as well as the
numbers. Aces indicate new beginnings, twos duality, threes
synthesis, fours stability, fives instability, sixes balance,
sevens blockage, eights increase, nines integration, and tens
completion. So, for example, the Four of Wands cards would
indicate some kind of stable spiritual energy, while the Nine of
Pentacles shows a contented woman enjoying her physical
existence. The minor cards can indicate either positive or
negative energy depending upon the illustration or whether you
pull them reversed or upright. And don't forget than a reversed
card can frequently mean some kind of release, instead of just
NO.
The five
most negative cards in the deck. Whenever
I pull one of the five following cards, I always consider the
answer to be a NO (unless an upright angel card appears to
cancel it out): the Queen of Swords, the Five of Swords, the
Devil, the Tower, and Death. However, as you continue to work
with tarot, you will probably discover that these cards might
not always mean NO for you, and you will need to determine for
yourself what your personal NO cards are.
You need to pull at least three cards for your answer. I
have learned that while the first card you turn over will
usually give you your answer, you need to pull at least two more
cards for the most accurate response. Sometimes you can pull two
strongly upright positive cards after a negative first card
which will cancel out the NO energy of the first card. On the
other hand, pulling two very negative-looking cards after a YES
first card can demolish the YES.
Getting a
MAYBE answer. When you pull a mixture of
upright and reversed cards, or a mixture of positive and
negative looking cards, you are probably getting a MAYBE answer
to your question. I have learned that when I get this kind of
mixed response, it usually means that the energies of the
situation are still in flux, or that it doesn't matter very much
what you should do in a given situation.
Never ask
the same question twice in a row. The
most sacred rule about oracular consultation is that you should
never ask an oracle the same question twice in a row, nor should
you pull extra cards if you don't like your initial pull.
However, I have learned that if you are disappointed in your
answer, you can ask your question a second time, but only after
waiting at least twenty-four hours to do so. And you can
continue to ask the question several more times if you like, but
only if you wait twenty-four hours between readings.
Learn how to
deal with disappointing responses. Once
you become skilled in working with an oracular tool, I guarantee
that you will frequently receive disappointing answers to many
of your questions. When this happens, the one single thing you
don't want to do with your honest-to-God messages is reject
them. You must accept the fact that you are probably not going
to get what you want, and then figure out how to deal with it.
Examine your
most cherished beliefs. Once you get the
hang of all this, you will quickly discover that the most
important way an oracular tool can assist you is by helping you
to examine your most cherished beliefs. More specifically, you
should ask questions about what you should eat or drink, how to
choose your partner or your livelihood, how to raise your
children, whether a new purchase will do you good, or whether
your social or political beliefs are actually making the world a
better place. Chances are that if you are a normal American, not
only have you made plenty of bad decisions about your life, but
you have also subscribed to assorted belief systems which are
not only toxic but which will deliver some nasty karmic payback
to you time and again. If you truly want to acquire Divine
guidance and assistance, the very first thing you have to figure
out is what you have been thinking or doing wrong all of your
life. Not right but wrong. This is the
greatest benefit you can get from an oracular tool. It will tell
you when you are being a stupid idiot whenever you actually are
being a stupid idiot.
To sum
everything up . . . Most people don't
realize that they spend their lives stumbling blindly through
their days, relying upon little more than guesswork to make
their decisions. Working with an oracle can give you the clarity
you need to interpret the world around you with greater
accuracy, and then make better decisions. If you give my
suggestions a try, I guarantee that your life will start to
improve in ways you never thought possible.
. . . provided
he or she is equipped with
the requisite knowledge and some skill
and intuition, the persons most fitted
to tell correctly their own
fortune are themselves.
--A Highland Seer,
Tea-Cup Reading and
Fortune-Telling by Tea Leaves