Instead of doing a spiritual memoir tonight, I wanted to write a blog documenting how tarot works. If you want to know how I got started into tarot, you can see THIS post.
I get asked this question a lot: how does it work? How do the right cards come up to match my situation/feelings?
The basic premise of tarot lies in the Law of Attraction. For any of you who have studied the teachings of Abraham-Hicks, or seen the movie The Secret, you'll have an idea of what I mean. For those who haven't, here's a quick intro to the idea...
The Law of Attraction states that "like attracts like." So, for example, if I'm a person who is grouchy and complains a lot, I will spend most of my time around other grouchy, complaining people, because they will be attracted to me and my space; if I see myself as a victim in life, I will continually attract situations where I feel powerless and helpless; if I see myself as a warrior, I will attract battles; and so on. I like to think of it as the world outside of me being an echo of what's inside of me, and an echo cannot be anything more than a reflection of the sound vibration sent out from the original source...
Here's my best description of it. Think of a symphony orchestra. There's the brass (trumpets, trombones, french horns, cornets, etc); there are the strings (violins, cellos, basses, etc); wind instruments (clarinets, oboes, flutes, etc); percussion (drums, chimes, bells, etc); and the conductor who guides each of these elements in working together to create a specific song. And let's say this orchestra plays, and creates an echo. If all of the instruments are off-key, they'll produce a wretched sound and echo. If all of your flutists go on strike, there will be a clear emptiness to the sound and echo. The whole orchestra is required to create to most fulfilling sound experience, and in turn, the most holistic echo.
Life is about learning how to use each member of the orchestra in the infinite ways that produce complex, vibrant, fulfilling sound: through loud triumphant marches, gentle warming lullabies, tense melodramatic harmonies, and innocent purifying melodies. When we have full acceptance of both the power of silence and the majesty of blaring sound, plus the full scale of music that can be achieved in between these extremes, we become masters of music ... or masters of our lives as it were.
A deck of tarot cards represents that pure and utter capacity. The Major Arcana, which depicts the Hero's Journey, is like the conductor's collection of sheet music, and the Minor Arcana, comprised of four suits, represents the range of sound available to make the sheet music come alive: strings represented by the powerful and comforting cups suit (hearts); brass represented by the cool, metallic swords suit (spades); wind instruments played by the passionate and fiery breath of the complex wands suit (clubs); and percussion by the rhythmic adornment of the pentacles suit (diamonds). When we hold the full deck in our hands, we hold the realm of possibility ... but which song are we playing today? And how can we become masters of music?
Your life, today, is a song. Maybe it is dominated by percussion, or maybe you've outlawed the brass ... but either way, your inner vibrational energy is creating a song. What the tarot pulls out is the echo. The reader (me!) sings you the echo they hear through the cards in your reading, so you can recognize the song, and choose to carry on or change your tune. It's as simple as that.
When I have my querents (or clients) shuffle the cards, I depend on the Law of Attraction. I depend on this echo to come out through your shuffling of the cards, trusting that "like attracts like," and that your song will echo through the images and symbols. Each card has its own story, its own sound and tune. The idea is that when you shuffle, your subconscious mind plays the tune (energy) of both your current situation and your desires of where you want to take this song, and in turn guides you in arranging the cards subconsciously in such a way that the energy of the top 3-10 cards match, or echo, your tune. Read that last sentence again, and think about it - it is the essence of tarot.
Then we look at those cards, and I sing you the song that you've laid out for me. Sometimes it's heavy with the complex, over-arching scheme presented by the Major Arcana, and the conductor's view of how this song has started, plays currently, and where it can end; other times, it's a matter of balancing the wind and string instruments to make your current song play more smoothly. Sometimes, all seems to be playing well, and we can simply marvel at and enjoy the vibrational awesomeness of beautiful music/life.
All forms of music are ok, and all readings will ultimately tell you that your practice, flaws, firings and hirings, concert exhibitions, and blissful private successes will serve you - in one way or the other. The magic is in the sound itself - perfect, good, mediocre or terrible. The magic is in your life - perfect, good, mediocre or terrible. With tarot, you have an opportunity to hear the music played (instead of being a player in the orchestra), and decide if you like it or not. If you want to make tweaks, recommendations are made of where to start.
And for the record - card readers (like myself) aren't master composers and players of music. They're master echoers of the sounds presented by the cards. That is part of what makes the experience so valuable for us - is our own opportunity to learn more and understand better how the music plays, so we can apply it to the orchestras in our own lives, and share the information freely with others. In this way, all are served and all are improved without ever any waste.
In my opinion, it's a brilliant and masterful setup ... created by the most talented Composer. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment