Post by Professor Shira Skye on Jul 26, 2016 12:00:10 GMT -6
Professor Shira Skye looked down from the landing attached to her office at the top of the narrow, winding staircase. She looked out over the dimly lit classroom, still empty. She had spent a lot of time and effort decorating the room just so. It bespoke of heritage a bit with the rich cloths and cushions, and odd trinkets here and there. Being in the company she’d had for most of her adult life, she became accustomed to wearing a lot of black, and it was still one of her favorite colors (and it became her well), but she couldn’t deny some of the brighter colors of her gypsy childhood. So while the rest of her wardrobe and personal settings came off looking like a page from Death Eaters Quarterly, here was a place she could let her inner playful spirit come out. The thought even brought a tinge of a smile to haunt along her beautiful, yet stony face.
With one last flick of her dark wand, the incense in all the burners flickered to life, then smoldered out, letting out the wondrous scent of the Dragon’s blood incense. Taking a deep breath, she made her way slowly down the stone steps. The lamps on the tables flared to life as she walked past, her black flowing robes billowing out around her.
As she heard the soft footsteps of students entering the dim corridor, she opened a box on a nearby bookshelf, bringing it to the large, low purple table. She also grabbed a deep-pocketed raggedy-looking cloth bag. She placed both containers on the table, and turned to face the handful of students that made up her class.
“Please, take a seat at whichever table draws you,” she said, gesturing to the smaller tables making a semicircle in front of hers. Six tables were decorated in black, green, or purple cloths, and each table held two chairs.
"I'm professor Shira Skye, and this is quite obviously Divination class. I expect punctuality and participation from this day forward. Are we understood?
Divination can be a tool used not only to reveal answers or secrets, but it can help in decision making and for evaluating every option available, aiding in communicating with spirits, entities, and loved ones who have passed on. Divination is also a method of understanding one's own self, which is significantly more difficult than anything else, and could take a lifetime to truly understand. During this class session we will be learning about tarot cards."
Professor Skye walked behind the purple table, lowering herself down to the black velvet cushion. She opened the fraying pouch and, with a flick of her wrist, the cards fell out into her hand. The gesture was practiced and graceful. She shuffled the cards quietly in her hands, different from the way a deck of playing cards are shuffled, and spread them out, face-up on the table. The bright colors of the cards can be seen from the students' tables.
"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. Later in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the cards were discovered by a number of influential scholars of the occult. These gentlemen 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.
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 cards have been shuffled and the deck cut, 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.
Let us 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."
She studied the cards before her for a moment, then pulled up one seemingly random card from the chaos on the table. She mumbles a quick charm and the image of the card is magnified and projected up on the dark-lacquered wall behind her. "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 is the one who has all the swords. The others look downcast and defeated.
What I have done is taken an image and projected 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 completely 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 our own 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."
Professor Skye sets down the card she's holding, and picks up another. Again, the image of the card is projected on the wall behind her. "Consider the Empress. She is a representation of the Mother, fertile and abundant. Notice how her image conjures up feelings of comfort. She is seated on soft, lush pillows, and her robe flows in folds around her. In the Empress, we sense the bounty and comforting balm 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 force 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. 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.
There is a story about a seemingly magical feather that let a man fly. This man really could fly, he just didn't believe it. He placed all his faith in a special feather that he carried with him. 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.
Like the man in this story with his feather, you do not really need the tarot to access your Inner Guide. 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."
Now she stood, and with a wave of her hand the cards spread on the table cleaned themselves up and arranged themselves neatly into a stack. She opened the box that she had set onto the table, and pulled out six velvet pouches. She opened each of the pouches and shook out the cards inside. She spread out a handful of each set, then stepped back.
"I want one student from each table to come down here and pick out a deck. Pick whichever deck seems to draw you in. One is no better than the others, but you will have more success if you feel a connection to your deck. Once you have retrieved a deck, you will sit back down with your partner and play around with it. Look at each of the cards, feel them, handle them. Study the imagery on the cards. What is the story being told within each card? When you leave here today, I want each paired group to split the cards. One will take the Major Arcana, and the other the Minor Arcana. Your assignment will be to journal an entry for each card. I want you to tell me your story interpretation of the card based on the imagery you see, and I want you to tell me why you think the story is relevant. In our next class we'll hear everyone's reviews and compare."
Two decks of The Robin Wood Tarot Deck
Two decks of The Sacred Circle Tarot
Two decks of The Llewellyn Arthurian Tarot
Please choose a deck.
With one last flick of her dark wand, the incense in all the burners flickered to life, then smoldered out, letting out the wondrous scent of the Dragon’s blood incense. Taking a deep breath, she made her way slowly down the stone steps. The lamps on the tables flared to life as she walked past, her black flowing robes billowing out around her.
As she heard the soft footsteps of students entering the dim corridor, she opened a box on a nearby bookshelf, bringing it to the large, low purple table. She also grabbed a deep-pocketed raggedy-looking cloth bag. She placed both containers on the table, and turned to face the handful of students that made up her class.
“Please, take a seat at whichever table draws you,” she said, gesturing to the smaller tables making a semicircle in front of hers. Six tables were decorated in black, green, or purple cloths, and each table held two chairs.
"I'm professor Shira Skye, and this is quite obviously Divination class. I expect punctuality and participation from this day forward. Are we understood?
Divination can be a tool used not only to reveal answers or secrets, but it can help in decision making and for evaluating every option available, aiding in communicating with spirits, entities, and loved ones who have passed on. Divination is also a method of understanding one's own self, which is significantly more difficult than anything else, and could take a lifetime to truly understand. During this class session we will be learning about tarot cards."
Professor Skye walked behind the purple table, lowering herself down to the black velvet cushion. She opened the fraying pouch and, with a flick of her wrist, the cards fell out into her hand. The gesture was practiced and graceful. She shuffled the cards quietly in her hands, different from the way a deck of playing cards are shuffled, and spread them out, face-up on the table. The bright colors of the cards can be seen from the students' tables.
"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. Later in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the cards were discovered by a number of influential scholars of the occult. These gentlemen 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.
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 cards have been shuffled and the deck cut, 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.
Let us 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."
She studied the cards before her for a moment, then pulled up one seemingly random card from the chaos on the table. She mumbles a quick charm and the image of the card is magnified and projected up on the dark-lacquered wall behind her. "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 is the one who has all the swords. The others look downcast and defeated.
What I have done is taken an image and projected 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 completely 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 our own 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."
Professor Skye sets down the card she's holding, and picks up another. Again, the image of the card is projected on the wall behind her. "Consider the Empress. She is a representation of the Mother, fertile and abundant. Notice how her image conjures up feelings of comfort. She is seated on soft, lush pillows, and her robe flows in folds around her. In the Empress, we sense the bounty and comforting balm 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 force 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. 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.
There is a story about a seemingly magical feather that let a man fly. This man really could fly, he just didn't believe it. He placed all his faith in a special feather that he carried with him. 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.
Like the man in this story with his feather, you do not really need the tarot to access your Inner Guide. 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."
Now she stood, and with a wave of her hand the cards spread on the table cleaned themselves up and arranged themselves neatly into a stack. She opened the box that she had set onto the table, and pulled out six velvet pouches. She opened each of the pouches and shook out the cards inside. She spread out a handful of each set, then stepped back.
"I want one student from each table to come down here and pick out a deck. Pick whichever deck seems to draw you in. One is no better than the others, but you will have more success if you feel a connection to your deck. Once you have retrieved a deck, you will sit back down with your partner and play around with it. Look at each of the cards, feel them, handle them. Study the imagery on the cards. What is the story being told within each card? When you leave here today, I want each paired group to split the cards. One will take the Major Arcana, and the other the Minor Arcana. Your assignment will be to journal an entry for each card. I want you to tell me your story interpretation of the card based on the imagery you see, and I want you to tell me why you think the story is relevant. In our next class we'll hear everyone's reviews and compare."
Two decks of The Robin Wood Tarot Deck
Two decks of The Sacred Circle Tarot
Two decks of The Llewellyn Arthurian Tarot
Please choose a deck.