Tarot 101

I realize it’s been awhile since I’ve made a blog entry.  I apologize. I’d like to say I’ve been swamped with book signings and writing conferences, but the plain truth is I’ve had the blahs.

You know the blahs otherwise known as the blues.  Or depression.   All of us get this way from time-to-time.  My blahs, however, are stubborn and don’t seem to want to move out which is ironic because I have no idea when they moved in.  Just woke up one morning and bang!  Blah.   

First, I blamed the weather.

I hate winter. The cold. The ice. The snow. I crave sunshine. Then, the monsoons hit.  Water, water every where. And wind!  Living in a mobile home with tornadoes lurking about is not a comfortable feeling. I prayed to every thing and every one who wore a halo and had wings. But now, even though it went straight from winter into summer, the weather isn’t a problem.

Oh, I thought about mopping the floors, doing the laundry and the dishes.  For Pete’s sake, I have a dishwasher.  I needed to write, write, and write.  But, today is Tuesday and NCIS is on TV.

This has got to stop!

I decided to consult the Tarot cards to see what the cat fur was going on.

Tarot cards have been around since the beginning of time. Playing cards are modeled after them which reminds me of a funny story:  I went to a “reader” in a nearby town with a friend of mine.  The reader was supposed to be excellent. She read modern day playing cards instead of the Tarot and informed me quite rudely that she didn’t believe in the Tarot.  Well, duh!  Where did she think the idea of playing cards came from?  

But I digress.

There are 78 cards in the Tarot deck.  They are divided into two separate units, the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana that explain in more detail what the Major guys are up to.   They have four suits, just like a deck cards which corresponds to the four elements:  Swords (air), Pentacles (earth), Wands (Fire) and Cups, (water.)  The deck also contains Kings, Queens, and Knights.

There are hundreds of different decks of Tarot cards on the market.  I collected them until I got too many, then I gave them away.  Giving a Tarot deck to someone is good mojo.  I read the Ryder-Waite deck. 

Some readers advise to put your energy on the cards before starting to read.  An excellent way to do this is to sleep with them under your pillow.  I confess, I did that.  Did it work?  Couldn’t say.  But I do think of my Tarot deck as an old friend.

A good, honest, sincere reader will tell you, any one can read the cards.  There is no mystery to unlocking their meaning. Yes, there are guidelines that help, but basically just look at the cards and determine what the pictures mean to you.  This explains why one card can mean one thing to a one reader and the same card can mean something else to different reader.   It doesn’t matter as long as those readers interpret the card the same way every time.  

Also, contrary to popular belief, the cards do not foretell the future!  No one can predict the future because of a little thing called free will.  However, the cards can point out happenings that may occur.  A co-worker told me of a reading he received which said he was going to die in a car accident on a certain date.  He was scared too death and wanted to know what to do.   First, the cards very, very rarely pin point an exact time.  Second, don’t drive that day!  Stay home!

Duh.  It isn’t rocket science, people!

I read the Tarot at various psychic fairs and at parties and for personal clients, but I stopped because most people hear but don’t listen. (Don’t get me started on this.)  They twisted the cards to fit their preconceived plan and didn’t listen to what I said.  One client wanted to know what his future wife would look like: her weight, hair color, eye color, job, where she lived, how many brothers and sisters she had, etc, etc.. I finally referred him to someone else. True, the cards can determine hair color and eye color but nothing is written in stone.  If I told him she would be a red head with green eyes Mrs. Right with blonde hair and blue eyes could pass him on the street. 

The Death card gets a bad wrap in the deck.  Very, very rarely does it mean physical death.  It is rebirth.  Much like a flower dies in the winter but is reborn in the summer. But, no one listens to that when I slap the Death card down.  So, I pulled the Death from my deck.  I have one that means physical death, but I don’t tell the client which one.  I also have a cards for yes, no, and maybe.

Oh, and while I’m at it.  Some consider the Tarot as devil worship.  For those of you that know me, do I look evil?  And, if you ever receive a reading that scares the liver plumb out of you, don’t pay attention to it.  An honest, sincere reader leaves the client with hope regardless of the situation. 

All of this is a round-about-way to getting to the cards I pulled to explain why I have the blahs.

I drew two major arcana cards: Judgment and The Wheel of Fortune.

Judgment can mean procrastination.  Oh gee, that fits to a T.

The Wheel of Fortune means the beginning of a new cycle. Progress. Advancement. Improvement.  

So what does that mean?

Get off my lazy butt and do something constructive!

True friends always tell the truth no matter how ugly.