Every Wednesday I sit in the window at Watkins, waiting to give Tarot readings; watching people come & go, overhearing snippets of arcane conversations and reflecting on …

TAROT AND CURRENT EVENTS,

Part Two (Part One)

Now it’s worth taking a little time to discuss the selection of the Significator card.  Really I just want to underline that you need to pick the card that fits to your eye, to your judgement, to your opinion.  You may use the same deck as me and come up with a very different card because we each have our individual responses to the cards and to the person we’re selecting for.  If with your cards and your eye the card for Nick Clegg is the Devil, or Temperance or the King of Wands then use it.

Here’s an example of my own process.  This was another political reading to see whether Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama would win the nomination of the Democratic party to be the Presidential candidate.  As Clinton was already a powerful and established figure she would have to be a queen.  The card that represented her would have to be one demonstrating power an  drive; that (for me) narrowed it down to either the Queen of Wands or of Swords.  Going by her colouring and more caring nature I picked the Queen of Wands.  For Obama I decided that as a relative newcomer with intense charisma and drive he would have to be a Knight; the suit was trickier, could be Cups (more emotional and inclusive) or Wands (dynamic and uplifting); not Swords (too divisive)  and not Discs (too static).  I decided for Wands mostly because both Clinton and Obama were of the same political party and general principles and so should be the same suit.

Here’s the reading for the two of them

Once again one significator was at the end of the sequence – the Queen of Wands has only one card, and that is the Knight of Wands.

So he has enormous influence over her, though of course they are compatible.  He, on the other hand has support via compatibility on one side and the happy 3 of Cups on the other.  Obviously Obama wins.

It’s interesting to note the closeness of their cards which may indicate the fact that they now work fairly closely together; though of course I didn’t think of that at the time.

So that’s an example of one way that I use to select indicator cards; but it’s just one way.  Let me repeat – pick the card that fits to your eye, to your judgement, to your opinion.

Using the right method

Now at this point you may be thinking how wonderful this method is and how clever I am; well – sorry – not so.

I used this method all through the last World Cup and made a total botch of it.  I won’t embarrass myself by showing you examples, but believe me a blind monkey would have done better!  So what happened?

I was using the wrong method.  It was as simple as that.  I picked the Significator card for the manager of each team and then did a reading for each of them  Wrong wrong wrong.  I hadn’t thought deeply enough about what I was doing.  It should have been obvious that if the managers don’t show up at the match the teams can still play; but if the managers are there but no players, there can be no match!  Further – suppose an underdog team and manager play a world class team and almost win but lose in the end?  The reputation (and so future prospects) of the losing manager are enhanced and that of the winning manager diminished; so who gets the good cards?

Now there are two points here, one obvious and one subtle.  The first is that I could have found someone in each match who would epitomise the team; a real figurehead, just like a political leader just before an election.  The trouble is – who?  Not the manager; the team leader? the goalkeeper? there’s a thought.  But does even the goalkeeper  really act as Significator for the whole team?

Perhaps then we go back to the original method I’ve detailed at the start – do the reading on behalf of person who will be directly affected by the event in question.

Does this mean we have to go out and find a fan for each and every team in each and every game and give them a reading?  Well ideally yes.  That would be the best method and a lot of hard work; which may explain why it’s the best.  But there is another approach; simply take any one of the team (yes – even the manager) and do a reading for them, not about them.  This is the more subtle point.

In those readings I had forgotten the basic principle that I outlined in my very first piece here – “Getting what you want … “ In other words I could have done a reading using the managers as I did, but on the basis of “How likely are they to get want they want in this instance?”  Rather than  “What is this person’s future likely to be?”  A subtle change but it shows the importance of always going back to the basics; what do you want? and what does the signified person want?

When we get that right everything is in place.

May we all have Good fortunes!

Part One

As they say – making predictions is a chancy business, especially about the future!

Still I’d like explain a way of using Tarot to understand the flow of current events; or at least to understand some parts of them; a small bite at a time, so to speak. Like all good methods, the principles can be scribbled on the back of envelope.

First - have a genuine question, and -
Two - do the reading on behalf of person who will be directly affected by the event in question.

Let’s expand on this a little. It’s important when dealing with current events that we have some direct connection to it. If I pick up Hello magazine and wonder where David Beckham is going for his holidays, it’s unlikely to be anything more than idle curiosity. But if I have a job in Travel advertising and could use this information, well that gives me a direct connection. That will generate some real energy and enable me to use, or rather activate, the Tarot.

But I have done many readings, especially political ones, in which I have no direct concern — so how does that work? It works because when I do it I have a real and strong motive; I want to be a better Tarot reader, I want to understand Tarot more clearly.

How is it done ? By picking a card to represent someone who I know will be directly affected. Pick the indicator based on colouring, physical type, profession,or by whatever you know of their character and history. Here’s an example:

Do you remember the AV referendum in May this year? Well I was not going to be materially or emotionally affected by the vote; nor did I know anyone who would have been who would sit still for reading.
I looked for a public figure who would definitely be affected by the result and decided on Nick Clegg. I knew that a “Yes” vote would be good for him and a “No” vote bad. The Significator I selected for him was the Knight of Cups in the deck I use for these kind of readings, the Hermetic Tarot. I used a simple 3 card layout with the significator in the centre, past card on the left and future on the right.

Three of Cups

Knight of Cups

Fortitude

My interpretation was that the AV vote would be negative, mostly based on the Fortitude card. Why would the Tarot advise Clegg to be brave and hold strong unless there was a problem to be brave about? So, a “No” vote. This proved to be right. A side issue and a bit unexpected – because Fortitude is not a negative card by nature, and the two cups sit well together things won’t turn out that badly in general. for him. So far this seems to be true but anyway it is peripheral.

It’s worth noting that this interpretation is based on the cards in this deck; if I had used – say – the Crowley Thoth deck and got the same cards thus ….

Abundance

Lust

Prince of Cups

I would have said the opposite, that the AV vote would pass, because the equivalent card to Fortitude here is Lust and looks to me a lot more like celebration and an invitation to party! The cards are so different even though both decks come directly from the Golden Dawn tradition.

This is a good example of how we have to evaluate the cards differently, depending more on the look of the cards and our personal responses rather than standardised book definitions.

As another example let’s look at another older reading that I did for the American Presidential election in 2004 where I drew cards for George W Bush and John Kerry. I had a personal interest here, an emotional one, I wanted Kerry to win. Here is the reading; same format – the Significator and the card on each side. However Kerry’s card was at the end of the pack (perhaps an indicator in itself) and so had only one card beside it.

Bush

Ten of Pentacles

King of Pentacles

Five of Cups

Kerry

The Hermit

King of Swords

Now we can see at once that Kerry isn’t going to win! The Hermit is obviously almost the least likely card or character to hold public office and is the only card afecting him. Even aside from the card name and accepted associations look at his posture! Does he look like someone who has won? Not to me. Bush would have to have spectacularly awful cards to lose and he hasn’t; he has good support from the 10 Pentacles, more so because in the same suit; weakened somewhat by 5 Cups but only a little. So with reluctance I decided Bush would win.

Now of course these are simple situations, win or lose; very different from from – say – the complexity of the current situation in the EU. The principles hold true – find someone who will be affected by what happens, select the card for them and do the reading.

Part two to follow.

Part 4 of a short series on Self-Guidance through Tarot. See part 3.

Now at last we come to the big one – Interpretation.
Up till now the process has been an inward journey, but now we come to the outward face of a Tarot reading, the visible side. This is what people tend to think Tarot is all about, but of course it depends on the inner clarifications we have worked through already.

Now at this point it’s likely that we dive into – or try to recollect – the various meanings and interpretations found in books, articles and the little pamphlets that come with our decks. And/or we strive to connect to any ‘psychic powers’ or ‘intuitive faculties” we may have developed. To my mind though, these are auxiliary powers that come second to simply reading what is in front of us; they may help, but can’t replace, direct insight. To misquote Bob Dylan – You don’t have to be psychic, or read a book, to know which way the wind blows!

The art to interpretation is to retranslate your original question in terms of the Tarot card you’ve drawn; or, if a multiple card layout, in terms mostly of the final outcome card; and then to get a sense of your personal response to the picture rather than the name and supposed attributes. As an example let’s take a question we looked at in phase 1.

“Is this person telling me the truth?” …. Let’s try asking some questions. Do I want this person to be telling the truth? Assuming “Yes” then why? What does that give me? Maybe I hope that they’ll get me a contract. So then the question becomes “I want to get a contract; this person has offered to help. What, for good or for bad are the possibilities of success?” And let’s say we get this card below. This is a card depicting a person so we translate the question into something like “Can I trust this person?” — and then look at the card. Does this person seem trustworthy to me? Don’t check the books until you have a personal response to the image.

Why not check the books first? Well look at these cards below. On paper the same cards; all the Magician – they should have the same attributes, but how different they are. And how different our individual responses will be! Do they seem trustworthy or not to you.? Your individual response to each image is the key.

*

At this point I would like to introduce a paradigm by which I understand the cards. You see I don’t believe that the cards have meanings; instead “The Tarot card is a picture of the energy that you have connected to by asking the question.” The “Magic” is in you, not in the cards.
We do have to trust that we have drawn the right cards and that the image shows us the aspect of the situation that we need to know. Let’s take the same question but now very different cards; again the same or very similar book meaning but very different in their effect upon us. If these are indeed pictures of the energy we’ve connected then we’re being told different things. But first let’s recast the question in terms of the image. It is now not about a person but more about the situation or the process.

**

Perhaps something like:
“Is this situation as clear and obvious as I thought?”
“Is there something else I need to know”
“Is it safe to proceed?”

Obviously here you’ve got my personal responses to these images. But see – by using the image to recast the question, and adding in my personal responses we’ve actually got almost to the answer straight away! The first step and the last are very closely linked. There is one last thing to look at; what to do with an abstract card?

***

Here I would recast the question in terms of new energy. Is the situation or expectation about something new and fresh and exciting? Or a continuation of something that already exists? If the first this card would be positive; if the second it could be a warning of disruption, or indicating the need for something new. Is this new fresh dynamic energy compatible with the situation or not?

So I hope it is clear how step one, framing the question, becomes an intrinsic part of the interpretation.
Essentially – interpret the card in terms of the question, and re-frame the question in terms of the card. Rinse and repeat until all is clear.

May all your cards and questions be fortunate.

Part 3 of a short series on Self-Guidance through Tarot. See part 2.

So, we have clarified our intention and, by limiting the number of factors we have to juggle, limited stress and anxiety. Now we must move on to the “divinatory frame of mind”, which we might as well call a “meditative state of mind.” Obviously when we read for ourselves the subject is likely to be “charged”; at the very least it disturbs our peace, otherwise why bother to do a reading about it?

So how can we get into our peaceful, meditative, divinatory state of mind whilst concentrating on something that disturbs us?

Luckily the answer is simple; it’s to do with putting aside only a little more than usual of our personal baggage. This is something we do every day a thousand times; we put our troubles to one side automatically over and over again. When we buy a bus ticket or a bottle of water, when we meet a casual acquaintance on the street, or call the plumber, or answer the telephone we don’t vent our negativity outwards. Instead for the time we’re engaged in these practical events we put our problems on hold, even if only a little.

So to enter the divinatory state, start by putting aside only a little more than usual of your personal baggage. We don’t have to be perfect, only good enough. It’s worth noting that we usually put aside our problems when engaged in practical activities; in the same way we need to start by paying practical attention to our physical selves and surroundings. This is why so many of the authentic texts on meditation start with the where and when, the physical position and so on. Once that is in place we start to harmonise body and breath and move into expanded awareness, using whatever process is familiar to us.

Now, since our aim is divination, it will be useful to repeat the original aim and question once we’re into a calmer space; don’t make it the focus of your meditation, just activate the aim and question and notice the response within your being. If there’s a sense of constriction, perhaps, or a “No” in some way, then this is an indication not to proceed with the reading. The possible reasons may be – wrong aim, wrong question, wrong time or place, or perhaps that there’s no need to do this reading. Anyway if this is your experience then fold away your reading and carry on a normal meditation; which may be more valuable anyway.

If you have received an assent for the reading from within yourself then we can carry on to the Step 4 – the Interpretation.

Well, after clarifying the question, or more accurately, our intention we move on to the mechanical phase of the process.

Actually to call it mechanical is incorrect; it is the apparently mundane act of deciding the number of cards and the lay-out to use. This part of the process is the one that is the easiest to miss or mix up; it’s so mundane we take it for granted.

How many cards will I lay out? What does each position mean? Will I start from a significator card? What is my shuffling and cutting procedure?

As with all the other preliminary phases, reading for oneself requires more attention here, than reading for others. It is for this reason that I recommend using the minimum number of cards when reading for yourself. The more involved we are the closer our focus needs to be.

So our intention is to improve our focus by limiting the number of factors we have to juggle, thus limiting stress or anxiety. Obviously when we read for ourselves the subject is likely to be ‘charged’ making it harder to get into a divinatory frame of mind (which will be our next step).

It’s so easy to miss this, but how often we get something like… “I’ve shuffled twice, is that enough? Maybe one more time and then cut? OK, 10 card layout; hmm, not sure I get that last one, I’ll add an explanatory card there. Oh! That’s the one I was thinking of using as a significator. Interesting. Maybe if I see what falls above and below? Should I shuffle again, or cut again, or just follow on?” All these extra questions dilute our original intention, and provoke a leaning towards uncertainty at the very least; exactly the wrong state to be in when studying the cards.

So decide at this point how many cards, what pattern to lay out them out, how much shuffling and how you intend to interpret the cards. Get it all framed and focused and out of the way.

This is the analytical and logical mind being used for its proper purpose; taking care of the mundane but vital details – thus clearing the way for Step Three.

Every Wednesday I sit in the window at Watkins, waiting to give Tarot readings; watching people come & go, overhearing snippets of arcane conversations and reflecting on …

ON TAROT

As a professional Tarot reader I find that lot of my clients mention that they have their own Tarot decks but have difficulty reading for themselves. It’s very common problem but it is a pity not to be able to use such an elegant and useful tool. Most of them mention the difficulty of interpreting the cards; but really that’s not the problem, otherwise we’d all have to spend weeks, months or years studying textbooks to find the right answer. It’s easier than that if we start at the beginning, because it’s those first steps that we need so much more in reading for ourselves – and are so much more likely to neglect.

So first – The Tarot is a symbolic map of our situation. Given “this” question what, for better or worse, are the possibilities for success? This means that our very first question is – “What do we want?”

Let’s take an example – “Will I get this job?” Asking in this way puts us into an essentially passive frame of mind.

Try this instead; “I want a good job. I’ve applied for this one. What, for good or for bad are the possibilities of success?” By doing this you’ve done three things; you’ve nominated yourself as an active agent in the process, opened up the scope of the reading and made it a lot easier to read the cards you draw.

Take another example. “Is this person telling me the truth?” Again, essentially passive.

Let’s try asking some questions. Do I want this person to be telling the truth? Assuming “Yes” then why? What does that give me? Maybe I hope that they’ll get me a contract. So then the question becomes “I want to get a contract; this person has offered to help. What, for good or for bad are the possibilities of success?”

When we read for ourselves we get over-involved; clarity of intention at the beginning makes a huge difference.

Here’s an example from my own life.

Last year I was struck by a motorcycle. The injury did not heal and my leg became very swollen, red and painful. If I had simply asked “What will happen to my leg?”, the card I drew out would have been ambiguous. Power and force, dynamic action – could be good or bad depending on the context.

Instead – what did I want? I wanted my leg to get better, preferably without medical intervention. The question I asked was “I want my leg to get better. On it’s own, though I may need medical intervention What are the chances of success?”

And from that question my immediate response to the card was “Yes. I will need medical intervention.

Looking at the card in detail I got a sense of power, strength and urgency; my evaluation was that I would be likely to need fairly powerful medicine and probably surgery; and that’s how it turned out; not by destiny but by probabilities.

Not to jump too far ahead but the interpretation rested on the fact that the self-healing methods I was using were slow and gentle, not the impression I got from the card, which thus pointed in the opposite direction!

So try out this process when next you’re reading for yourself; you’ll see how much easier it becomes.

Next I’ll go into the mechanical phase of the process, till then!