 INTRODUCTION The origin of the tarot is a
mystery. We do know for sure that the cards were used in Italy in the fifteenth century as
a popular card game. Wealthy patrons commissioned beautiful decks, some of which have
survived. The Visconti-Sforza, created in 1450 or shortly thereafter, is one of the
earliest and most complete.
Later in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the cards were discovered by a number of
influential scholars of the occult. These gentleman were fascinated by the tarot and
recognized that the images on the cards were more powerful than a simple game would
suggest. They revealed (or created!) the "true" history of the tarot by
connecting the cards to Egyptian mysteries, Hermetic philosophy, the Kabbalah, alchemy,
and other mystical systems. These pursuits continued into the early part of the twentieth
century when the tarot was incorporated into the practices of several secret societies,
including the Order of the Golden Dawn.
Although the roots of the tarot are in the occult tradition, interest in the cards has
expanded in the last few decades to include many different perspectives. New decks have
been created that reflect these interests. There are Native American, herbal, dragon and
Japanese decks, among others.
The tarot is most commonly viewed as a tool for divination. A traditional tarot reading
involves a seeker - someone who is looking for answers to personal questions - and a
reader - someone who knows how to interpret the cards. After the seeker has shuffled and
cut the deck, the reader lays out the chosen cards in a pattern called a spread. Each
position in the spread has a meaning, and each card has a meaning as well. The reader
combines these two meanings to shed light on the seeker's question.
A simple process, but rarely presented in a simple way. In films, we always see the tarot
being used in a seedy parlor or back room. An old woman, seated in shadows, reads the
cards for a nervous, young girl. The crone lifts her wrinkled finger and drops it
ominously on the Death card. The girl draws back, frightened by this sign of her impending
doom.
This aura of darkness clings to the tarot cards, even now. Some religions shun the cards,
and the scientific establishment condemns them as symbols of unreason, a holdover from an
unenlightened past. Let us set aside these shadowy images for now and consider the tarot
simply for what it is - a deck of picture cards. The question becomes - what can we
do with them?
The answer lies with the unconscious - that deep level of memory and awareness that
resides within each of us, but outside our everyday experience. Even though we ignore the
action of the unconscious most of the time, it profoundly affects everything we do. In his
writings, Sigmund Freud stressed the irrational, primitive aspect of the unconscious. He
thought that it was the home of our most unacceptable desires and urges. His contemporary
Carl Jung emphasized the positive, creative aspect of the unconscious. He tried to show
that it has a collective component that touches universal qualities.
We may never know the full range and power of the unconscious, but there are ways to
explore its landscape. Many techniques have been developed for this purpose -
psychotherapy, dream interpretation, visualization and meditation. The tarot is another
such tool.
Consider for a moment a typical card in the tarot deck, the Five of Swords. This card
shows a man holding three swords and looking at two figures in the distance. Two other
swords lie on the ground. As I look at this card, I begin to create a story around the
image. I see a man who seems satisfied with some battle he has won. He looks rather smug
and pleased that he has all the swords. The others look downcast and defeated.
What I have done is take an open-ended image and project a story onto it. To me, my view
is the obvious one - the only possible interpretation of this scene. In fact, someone else
could have imagined a totally different story. Maybe the man is trying to pick up the
swords. He's calling to the others to help him, but they
refuse. Or, maybe the other two were fighting, and he convinced them to lay down their
arms.
The point is that of all possible stories, I chose a certain one. Why? Because it is human
nature to project unconscious material onto objects in the environment. We always see
reality through a lens made up of our own inner state. Therapists have long noted this
tendency and have created tools to assist in the process. The famous Rorschach inkblot
test is based on such projection.
Projection is one reason why the tarot cards are valuable. Their intriguing pictures and
patterns are effective in tapping the unconscious. This is the personal aspect of the
tarot, but the cards also have a collective component. As humans, we all have certain
common needs and experiences. The images on the tarot cards capture these universal
moments and draw them out consistently. People tend to react to the cards in similar ways
because they represent archetypes. Over many centuries, the tarot has evolved into a
collection of the most basic patterns of human thought and emotion.
Consider the Empress. She stands for the Mother Principle - life in all its abundance.
Notice how her image conjures up feelings of luxuriance. She is seated on soft, lush
pillows, and her robe flows in folds around her. In the Empress, we sense the bounty and
sensual richness of Nature.
The power of the tarot comes from this combination of the personal and the universal. You
can see each card in your own way, but, at the same time, you are supported by
understandings that others have found meaningful. The tarot is a mirror that reflects back
to you the hidden aspects of your own unique awareness.
When we do a tarot reading, we select certain cards by shuffling, cutting and dealing the
deck. Although this process seems random, we still assume the cards we pick are special.
This is the point of a tarot reading after all - to choose
the cards we are meant to see. Now, common sense tells us that cards chosen by chance
can't hold any special meaning, or can they?
To answer this question, let's look at randomness more closely. Usually we say that an
event is random when it appears to be the result of the chance interaction of mechanical
forces. From a set of possible outcomes - all equally likely - one occurs, but for no
particular reason.
This definition includes two key assumptions about random events: they are the result of
mechanical forces, and they have no meaning. First, no tarot reading is solely the product
of mechanical forces. It is the result of a long series of conscious actions. We
decide to study the tarot. We buy a deck and learn how to use it. We shuffle and cut the
cards in a certain way at a certain point. Finally, we use our perceptions to interpret
the cards.
At every step, we are actively involved. Why then are we tempted to say a reading is
"the chance interaction of mechanical forces?" Because we can't explain just how
our consciousness is involved. We know our card choices aren't deliberate, so we call them
random. In fact, could there be a deeper mechanism at work, one connected to the power of
our unconscious? Could our inner states be tied to outer events in a way that we don't yet
fully understand? I hold this possibility out to you.
The other feature of a random event is that it has no inherent meaning. I roll a die and
get a six, but there is no purpose to this result. I could just as easily roll a one, and
the meaning would be the same - or would it? Do we really know these two outcomes are
equal? Perhaps there is meaning and purpose in every event, great or small, but we don't
always recognize it.
At a party many years ago, I had the sudden urge to pick up a die sitting on the floor. I
knew with great conviction that I would use this die to roll each number individually. As
I began, the laughter and noise of the party faded away. I felt a growing excitement as a
different number appeared with each roll. It was only with the last successful roll that
my everyday awareness returned, and I sat back, wondering what had happened.
At one level, these six rolls were unrelated, random events, but at another level, they
were very meaningful. My inner experience told me this was so, even though an outside
observer might not agree. What was the meaning? At the time, it was a
lesson in the strange interaction between mind and matter. Today, I know it had another
purpose - to be available to me now, some 25 years later, as an illustration for this very
lesson!
Meaning is a truly mysterious quality that arises at the juncture of inner and outer
realities. There is a message in everything...trees, songs, even trash...but only when we
are open to perceiving it. The tarot cards convey many messages
because of the richness of their images and connections. More importantly, tarot readings
communicate meaning because we bring to them our sincere desire to discover deeper truths
about our lives. By seeking meaning in this way, we honor its reality and give it a chance
to be revealed.
If there is a meaning in a reading, where does it come from? I believe it comes from that
part of ourselves that is aware of the divine source of meaning. This is an aspect of the
unconscious, yet it is much more. It acts as a wise advisor who knows us well. It
understands what we need and leads us in the direction we need to go. Some people call
this advisor the soul, the superconscious, or the higher self. I call it the Inner Guide
because that is the role it plays in connection with the tarot.
Each of us has an Inner Guide that serves as a fountain of meaning for us. Your Inner
Guide is always with you because it is a part of you. You can't destroy this connection,
but you can ignore it. When you reach for your tarot deck, you signal to your Inner Guide
that you are open to its wisdom. This simple act of faith allows you to become aware of
the guidance that was always there for you.
We are meant by nature to rely on the wisdom of our Inner Guide, but somehow we have
forgotten how to access it. We trust our conscious minds instead, and forget to look
deeper. Our conscious minds are clever, but unfortunately, they just don't have the full
awareness we need to make appropriate choices day by day.
When we are operating from our conscious minds, we often feel as if events are forced upon
us by chance. Life seems to have little purpose, and we suffer because we do not really
understand who we are and what we want. When we know how to access our Inner Guide, we
experience life differently. We have the certainty and peace that comes from aligning our
conscious will with our inner purpose. Our path becomes more joyous, and we see more
clearly how we bring together the scattered elements of our lives to fulfill our
destinies.
I use the tarot because it is one of the best tools I have found to make the whispers of
my Inner Guide more available consciously. The ideas, images and feelings that emerge as I
work through a reading are a message from my Inner Guide. How do I know there is a
message, and it's not just my imagination? I don't, really. I can only trust my experience
and see what happens.
You do not really need the tarot to access your Inner Guide. The cards serve the same
function as Dumbo's magic feather. In the Disney movie, Dumbo the Elephant really could
fly on his own, but he didn't believe it. He placed all his faith on the special feather
he held in his trunk. He thought this feather gave him the power to fly, but he found out
differently when it blew away, and he was forced to fall back on his own resources.
The tarot cards may help you fly until you can reach your Inner Guide on your own. Don't
worry for now about how this might
happen. Just play with the cards, work through the lessons and exercises, and see if you
don't experience a few surprises |
