Happy Tarot Tuesday! Let’s talk today about another simple ‘spread’ for self-reflection. I say ‘spread’ loosely this time, as this is technically a single card pull. Despite being small, it’s great for getting to know your deck and heavy on the introspective aspect- which I will always love. For this spread we will again be using the Dreams of Gaia Deck by Ravynn Phelan- but you can use any deck. Today we’re going to be talking about the “Guide Spread”.

The Guide

There is only one card to define in this go around, because well, it’s a single card draw as we’ve said. This card is meant to guide you, help you reflect on something that is prevalent in your life at this time, and can be used to help you reflect on your actions preemptively. Sometimes a guide card may only be relevant for a day. Maybe you happen to pull a card relevant to something that is a larger or more ongoing issue. On a rare occasion a card may need to keep you company for longer than a day.

Performing the Guide Spread

My regular recommendations for tarot apply here: give yourself ample time to complete it and find a quiet space where you can relax and focus. Keep a journal or notebook handy, as well as your guidebook. Find appropriate lighting and light a candle or incense if that helps you relax, same with music/background noise. The point is to intentionally relax and be present in your reflection.

Shuffle. There is no right or wrong way, just shuffle. Stop when it feels right, or your hands get tired. Whatever comes first. Whether you cut your deck or not is up to you.

Before you delve into meanings and reflection, spend some time looking at the artwork, just examining the card. How does its artwork make you feel without immediately knowing what it means?

Review the meaning of the card and take into account if it is upright or reversed/blocked. Reflect on how this may affect your day, if there is something happening that this could help/ hinder with? I find this a good tool to reflect on whatever quality the card is addressing and assess whether I think this is a strength of mine or maybe a weakness I need to pay attention to as I go about my day.

Take your time with this part of the process, as sometimes there are the immediate reactions and the secondary ones after you’ve had a few minutes to think and consider. Don’t judge your reflection as positive or negative. You are simply examining the prompt as it is.

Closing the Reading:

Take a few minutes to write about your experience. This is where we want to be thinking about how this makes us feel. Note that I do not say “where we judge the reading”. That’s not the point, you can feel positively, or negatively, or inspired, or melancholy- whatever it may be; without judging the answer. One is a sensation, the other is a statement. Be careful with this.

Keeping a journal will give you something to look back on, a way to notice trends, and a second round of reflection that is slightly different. Some people (like myself) process differently when we’re writing and the act of moving your hands to reflect things helps anchor the process into linear thoughts when your brain might otherwise be a basket of ferrets on espresso.

The point is that this is between you and yourself. Which means that honest reflection is not only encouraged, but necessary- especially if you can get out of the habit of judging yourself and just letting yourself feel what you feel without commenting on it.

Now you’re ready to go about your day with a reflection excersize done and your mind prepared to be present and take the day as it comes!

We’d love to hear about your experiences with intentional living and I hope you give this a shot.

All the best,

Mikaela

I had to give up my career in Tarot Reading… there was no future in it. 

Almost everybody I know wishes they knew what their future held. Everybody has questions about the unknown, and we are no different than our ancestors in that regard. Humanity has been seeking their fortunes in everything from the stars, to runes, animal bones, and even their own hands for centuries. It is one of the most popular story conflicts: Do you want to know your future, is it better to know, does knowing affect the future, do you have the power to change it?  

Humans are fascinated by the future, by the idea of free will versus destiny and whether we have any control or choice in the matter. For both those who take it seriously and even those that simply view it as a quirky past-time at carnivals in tents draped with shawls and strange lamps there is a certain amount of mysticism and awe- even among the skeptics.  

Like everything else about the universe, I am fascinated by how things came to be the way they are now. The tale of how Tarot came to be is a fascinating one, so in the words of Scat Cat from the Aristocats “Let me Elucidate here for you”. Let’s read into the history of Tarot Cards, and I’ll share with you my personal beliefs on the uses of Tarot and its value in self-reflection. 

Tarot cards actually started off as a deck of cards used for playing a card game called Tarrochi. They had nothing to do with fortune telling. You can find a link for the original rules of the game {here}. The original Tarot Deck was remarkably similar to any other deck of playing cards you might see. If you live in the continental U.S., you are problem most familiar with Bicycle playing cards. Like your modern Spades, Hearts, Clubs, and Diamonds; Tarot cards were split into 4 houses. Traditionally Cups, Swords, Wands, and Coins. Germany even had a Variation that was Acorns, Hearts, Leaves, and Bells. In those original days of card playing, they were individually hand painted and expensive. Now, originals are exceedingly rare. What sets aside Tarot Decks in structure from other decks of cards are the 21 trump cards- whose values are greater than that of all the other cards; These are what later came to be called the Major Arcana.  

Cartomancy- or the study of divination through Cards didn’t really become a thing until the 1400’s, but it wasn’t until 1781 that the tarot deck specifically became involved. A French Clergyman, Court de Gebelin was the first man to attempt to ascribe any sort of mystical meaning to individual cards. Many people claimed that the concept of Tarot in the Occult sense was brought to Europe from a region in Egypt know as Mamluk. His works went so far as to claim that the cards of the Tarot deck were actually a fractured copy of the Book of Thoth, supposedly written by the Egyptian God of wisdom, magic, and knowledge; which mythologically contained two spells- one that allows the reader to understand the speech of animals, and one which allows the reader to perceive the gods themselves and the knowledge of the future (Jasnow, Richard Lewis; Karl-Theodor Zauzich (2005). The Ancient Egyptian Book of Thoth: A Demotic Discourse on Knowledge & Pendant to Classical Hermetica. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 9783447050821.) though no Egyptologist been able to find documentable proof of jump from Egypt to Europe.  

Several Years later Jean Baptiste Alliette was the first to assign specific meanings to specific cards in the context of divination. Etteilla (his penname) published his work Manière de se récréer avec le jeu de cartes nommées tarots (“Way to recreate yourself with the deck of cards called tarots”). which is still considered the standard reference work of Tarot cartomancy. In 1789 he also created the first true “Tarot” Deck specific to divination, which introduced the structure of major and minor Arcana still used today based off his correspondences between the tarot, astrology, the four classical elements and the four humors. He also founded the first Tarot Society. 

In the 230 years since, any number of variations, versions, and alternative decks have been designed with different intentions and all distinctive styles of artwork. There are traditional and non-traditional decks and many that deviate from traditional card spreads and meaning standards (these typically come with their own books so you can learn your deck). 

Now for an unpopular opinion. Don’t hate me. I do not think Tarot decks can predict my future. I’m sorry, but I have my earth child feet planted too firmly in the dirt to think that I have some pre-determined destiny or that even if I am free to make my own choices those choices will somehow land me in the same inevitability. That is not to say however that I don’t think that everything happens for a reason and that sometimes the Universe, or God, or the Powers that Be (whatever you choose to believe in or call it) aren’t trying to steer me in a particular direction or impart some little piece of wisdom- sometimes it’s just too obvious to be anything else. But I do believe in taking responsibility for my choices and actions. They are mine, not fate’s.  

Nor do I believe that my cards can answer “questions” or tell me what to do. I do not believe that any choice I make will be “because the cards say so”- they are my choices, and I will make them for myself. I said the opinion was unpopular, please- hear me out. I’ve had a couple people ask me: 

“Well then how come you claim to love the concept of Tarot if you don’t believe in any of it?”  

OR

“What do you mean, come to the cards with a question in mind if you don’t think it’s really going to answer it?” 

What I do believe in is insight. and I DO believe in a higher power, and that sometimes that higher power communicates in ways we don’t understand right away. I do believe in manifesting, or as the late Napolean Hill said, “the Mind attracts the things it dwells upon”. I believe in magic in the sense that sometimes we have to see the world the way we want it to be instead of the way it is and through sheer will and mind power (MANIFESTING) force it to be what we want and need because we will accept no less (I tip my hat to you Elizabeth Haydon). No momentous change came about from accepting things the way they were-I am a dreamer in that sense. I believe in the concept of a transfer of energy and communication (you can call it prayer if you are Christian, or communion with a higher being, or communion with yourself if that is your belief). I also believe that sometimes you need to put yourself OUTSIDE of yourself or your situation to answer something clearly and calmly.  

So, to answer the question: Tarot is an amazing tool for meditation, self-reflection, and critical thinking. some people can put themselves outside a situation on their own, if you need help to find that unbiased look- tarot is a great tool. When I say “come to the cards with a question in mind” it’s because if you are coming to the cards with a question in mind, you are more likely to pull cards that are relevant to you because you’ll find relevancy in the context. Tarot cards are not like horoscopes, they aren’t going to tell you to avoid the color yellow and Chinese food for the day. Instead, they are going to present possibilities and obstacles- sometimes in the form of yourself. 

I ask open-ended questions related to problems I am facing in my life. introspective questions, questions about myself and my ability for growth. By virtue of the way tarot decks are structured and used, the answers are multi-faceted, open to interpretation, and often questions in themselves. Sometimes the cards’ “answer” will be powerful simply because they force you to ask yourself questions and look at yourself differently. Sometimes the answers and solutions are possibilities that would not have even occurred to me on my own. You do not necessarily have to take the advice, but at least you’ve considered something you otherwise wouldn’t have. Through a process of self-reflection that is inherent in Tarot you are now exploring possibilities that wouldn’t have crossed your mind simply because you are too close to yourself or your situation. 

No cards in tarot are good or bad. I always hate it when tarot readers in movies flip a card and go “this is a good card” or inhale dramatically and go “there is great bloodshed in front of you.” I call B.S. They just are what they are, and that is a beautiful thing. It gives you the ability to quit labeling things as good and bad or success and failure and just let it be YOUR decision or YOUR experience.  

Each card has a meaning, and an inverse; and different decks are written with different intentions and spread styles, which is why it is so important to pick a deck that resonates with you. Look at the art, read about the artist/ author, listen to the tone, see if you can find an excerpt from the manual (most specialty decks come with a guidebook). Make sure it’s something that meshes with who you are as a person. If it feels off, it probably is. 

If you are interested in learning more, stay tuned. In the coming weeks we will be continuing our conversation about tarot focusing on different kinds of spreads, decks, how to read cards, examples of the multiple meanings of cards using my own deck as an example, and if I’m feeling particularly brave- examples of readings I’ve done for myself and the meaning I took from them and how they helped me make decisions.  

All the best,  

Mikaela