Thursday, March 29, 2012

Tarot cards from the world

I encourage people to be open to receiving tarot cards from the world, in the form of symbolic pop-ups and coincidences. Sometimes it's rather hard not to see this playing out, as when on my morning walk I found part of a deck of Bicycle playing cards abandoned on my street just a few doors up from my house. Most of the cards were face-down, but four presented themselves as a possible reading for the day, in this order: 10 of Clubs, Queen of Diamonds, 8 of Clubs, 9 of Diamonds.
     The Clubs in a deck of playing cards correspond to the Wands of tarot; the Diamonds to Disks or Pentacles. So, in the abandoned Bicycle cards, sodden and soiled under the rain, I found myself looking into a tarot mirror and a possible story for the day. The Ten of Wands, for me, cautions about a great energy confined in too narrow a space; a creative outlet is required for all that passion and fire! The Queen of Disks, whether an aspect of me or a woman in my life, brings the grounding and earthy approach that I often require to balance my energies. The Eight of Wands, for me, is a great card for rapid and effective communication, an invitation to connect with others through all available media. The Nine of Disks, as an outcome card, can hardly be beat, suggesting a powerful forward movement into abundance and physical manifestation.
    Not a bad bunch. As I smile at myself for spending these moments reflecting on the possible tarot attributions of a few cards abandoned on the sidewalk, I am reminded of an entertaining thought expressed by Papus (Gerard Encausse) in his otherwise tedious 19th century book The Tarot of the Bohemians. Giving his own twist to the legend that tarot is originally an Egyptian book of wisdom, Papus  dreamed up the story of an Egyptian priest who, “observing that virtue is a most fragile thing, and most difficult to find, proposed to confide the scientific traditions to vice. The latter, he said, would never fail completely, and through it we are sure of a long and durable presentation of our principles." So he invented a card game to perpetuate the secret wisdom while hiding it from the understanding of the uninitiated. "The game chosen as a vice was adopted. Since then the players have transmitted this tarot from generation to generation far better than the most virtuous men ever could have done.” 



6 comments:

  1. I enjoyed this Facebook comment on this piece: "Just last week I found The Joker on the ground in a parking lot. It reminded me to not take it all so seriously."

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  2. Quite recently upon the threshold of an event, I drew, appropriately, the ten of swords. I was surprised at the intensity evoked by the symbolism, and all the helpful work it prompted me to do as follow up. I've never worked with Tarot before and it caused me to go out and buy a deck...

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  3. Well I also believe a lot in tarot cards as many a times what i figured out from their prediction it came out to be true.

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  4. Well I also believe a lot in tarot cards as many a times what i figured out from their prediction it came out to be true.

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  5. Glad to have visited your blog. never thought i would enjoy it this much upon reading through it. And i got so many great points Thanks a lot for posting this hope to see the next update soon.

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  6. Your article has put into words many things I was thinking about for a long time. If you have time, can do one article on tarot and astrology and how they are linked? I know your knowledge is valuable and will give me much insight. Peace to you.


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