Tarot

 

I love playing cards. I grew up in a household where card playing was important, I often had to partner with my Dad for canasta and believe me, you had better be good to be his partner. He could keep track of cards in his head, to the point that he knew what you were going to play even before you did. As tough as it was to be his partner, it was 1000 times worse to be his opponent. We played all kinds of card games- gin, 500, michigan & crazy rummy, blitz, spit, hearts, rook, you name it, we played it.

Naturally, tarot cards would intrigue me. And just like my dad, I could keep track of cards in my head. But I rapidly figured out that it wasn't my head that was telling me the cards... I wonder if he had the same helpers?

I started reading the cards in a fit of rebellion against the Baptist youth preacher who said I wasn't allowed to dance. WHAT? Something that gives so much joy is not allowed? Well, fine! I will quit your church and worse... I will read tarot cards too!  Oooo, such a rebel! Back in the 70s, reading tarot was totally taboo, right up there with Ouija boards and levitating. Yes, I also did those things. I mean, why not? I was already in trouble for dancing. 

I would always read cards just for fun. I never really took it as anything more than a game, just a party trick. People would be astounded, "how did you know that?" <Insert me shrugging and saying I dunno here>  I didn't realize what a tool for transformation the cards could be until much later. I always had a deck. Always just plain old Rider-Waite. Sometimes I would do readings, sometimes I would just play gin rummy with them.

Then I found the Osho Zen Tarot deck. I had experienced a very traumatic loss of a family member that left me fragile, vulnerable and rethinking everything & everybody in my whole life. Searching for answers, I began to simply pick a card everyday. Just one. It was spot on, exactly what I needed to hear to pick myself up and continue to fight to make the changes needed to create the life I was supposed to live, instead of playing the hand I had been dealt. (unironically, this was right around my first Saturn return- more on that in another post) The Zen deck spoke to me in a different way than the R-W. Deeper, less cartoonish, teaching me that nothing is really all good or all bad and that everything is useful.

When I started doing readings as my job, the zen deck was my go to. Sometimes I would supplement with R-W if the querent needed a hammer, but mostly they just needed confirmation that what they knew was true WAS.  Like, they know they need to quit their job, divorce their spouse, move or let go of toxicity; the cards verify it and empower them to do so. I have seen some really powerful transformations through readings. The cards do not lie. I cannot tell you how many times I have laid down a spread as my client bursts into tears. Men & women, the cards don't pull punches. Truth is the truth. And the cards help you to accept it. 

As I interpret, the words flow from a place beyond me. Sometimes, I feel like I am just along for the ride, almost as if I can step outside myself and listen to what is coming through -"damn, that was brilliant, wonder how I thought of that?" - LOL It really makes me chuckle sometimes. I'm surprised the querent doesn't think I'm nuts... ok, don't answer that, I know what you think. 

I don't read with the zen deck as much anymore. After 20 years, going through 4 versions of them, I find myself a bit jaded. The important thing about tarot is the images. A good reader sees something different every time, something that pertains exclusively to the querent - this is why using the text from the book as anything but confirmation is so useless- that's the authors interpretation, not the message for the client. There is lots of wisdom in the book... but the true wisdom is in the images. Or what you see in the images. Sometimes I think the images actually change... but yeah, that's me. I just trust the cards. 

I use lots of different decks and layouts. I have people who come to me from all over the world, online or in person, whenever they need to make a transition or to get some clarity. I teach tarot, in fact, have a class coming up soon. But what I am really teaching is trust. You know the truth. You know it. And if you don't, let's do a reading to help you see it. And then maybe we could play some gin rummy?