Tarot Dige s t Premier Is s u e Creation and Growth All written content by Jim Larsen
May, 2017
A word from the Editor
The mission of Tarot Digest is lofty, yet simple. It is to expand the lexicon of tarot. We aim to go beyond what has been said before. Why repeat it if it’s already been said? What we want is to go beyond. Go deeper. We want to delve into the archetypes and find personal meanings. We want to give voice to the unexpressed tarot. This is tarot for the people by the people. What have you got? We want to know what tarot means to you. In your explorations, what have you found? Have you developed personal meanings? Please share! It is through sharing that our minds grow and our experiences expand. Have you created a deck? Tarot art? Spreads? Have you written articles about what the cards mean to you? How has tarot changed your life and expanded your awareness? Please submit. Our submission guidelines are on the last page. Creation and growth is the theme of our premier issue as a symbol of what we endeavor to attain. Now that Tarot Digest has been created, together, let’s make it grow. - Jim Larsen www.foolspathtarot.com
Why Read Tarot? P
erhaps you have thought about how interesting it would be to learn how to read the images on tarot cards, but thought, “No. It’s not for me. You have to have special talents and abilities to do that.” The truth is, anybody wanting to learn to read tarot cards can learn to read tarot cards.
What does it take? It takes nothing but the desire to do so. Why become a tarot card reader? What benefit will this bring to you? Have you ever asked yourself this? The answers are simple and to the point. By understanding the meanings of tarot cards, you understand what it means to be fully human. Consider tarot to be less about dogmatic practices of reading and more about understanding the human spirit through interpreting it through the archetypes. The archetypes represent a blueprint of the spirit. With each card being a part of the overall picture, blueprint of the human soul, then the card you draw exemplifies how a certain situation or time will affect you. Each archetype is a piece of the puzzle. The picture? What does it show? The human spirit, the human soul. With each archetype being an aspect of who we are and what we experience, individually and collectively on the planet. Therefore, mastering the lesson of each and every individual archetype is to master what it means to be human. Mastering the archetypes, each and every one of them is to master humanity, because now you have a label and an understanding of each feeling, each aspect of what it means to be human. This is incredibly empowering. This is incredibly healing. This is also an opening to intuition and empathy. Each card has a story to tell us about our self. Pick a card. What is the story this card can tell you? For example, consider the meaning of 5 of cups. It generally represents disappointment and sadness. Now, with or without the card, when you feel this way, you can say to yourself, “Ah! I’m having a five of cups experience. That’s all it is. It will pass.” By defining it, you can remind yourself that everybody on the planet goes through this. Everybody. By defining it, too, you can resolve it. What is the resolution, for you, for disappointment? Consider
ple will tarot
In understanding the blueprint of the human spirit through tarot cards, one of the great gifts you will receive is compassion for others.
also the 8 of cups. This generally represents walking away from a situation. It’s simply time to call it quits and be done with it. This is human. It is part of life. By allowing this card to remind you that this is a part of life, it can make it easier to face it when you know you must. Consider each card this way. Appreciate the lesson it has for the shared human experience. By doing so, you will understand the circumstances of your own life on a much greater level, as well as developing empathy for others in what the circumstances are of their life. This empathy is what will make you a great tarot card reader. This is what peothank you for. In understanding the blueprint of the human spirit through cards, one of the great gifts you will receive is compassion for others. You understand that to you, their questions may not have relevance to you and your life, but to them, the questions are of significance and important. You as the reader know the direction they would like the reading to take, to affirm a belief about themselves or a hope they have. But What if the reading goes the other directions? When it supports their hopes, it is easy to tell them the news. But when it does not, you must tell them your intuitions as best you can without crushing them. They have faith and trust in you. They are with you for answers. They are not with you to be let down or hurt. So, you the reader develop the skill of relaying the messages with sincerity, honesty, and with the skill for turning what they may consider negative into something positive and affirming. This is a gift that reading tarot gives you that you should strive to take to other aspects of your life. There are a number of benefits to becoming a tarot card reader. Understanding the human spirit as a puzzle with each card being but one piece of this puzzle is a great one. It helps you to understand yourself as well as understanding what humans really are.
The Empress and The Emperor Nurturing and Providing
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magine a new idea that is bubbling in your brain to be as a child about to be born into this world. How best to bring this idea from inspiration to actualization? How best to raise this child? Meditate on both the Empress and the thought of Emperor card.
Think of the Empress and Emperor as a set of parents. The Empress, as a mother, sees the potential in a being and nurtures it in this direction. As you imagine your idea as a child, visualize her providing for, and being empathetic towards it. She will see what the child needs and wants. She will coax the child in the direction he or she should go. Her intuition as a mother will provide her the simple knowings required for this. The Emperor, in the role of a father will then set out to provide what is needed to bring these things about. Empress is nurturer. Emperor is provider.
Think of the Empress and Emperor as a set of parents.
The Empress card can be thought of as raw, primal beginnings. She provides the spark that initiates new growth. She nurtures this new growth to provide what is needed for this spark. Where though does this spark come from? Where does one get these things that generate this spark? It must come from some universal, some divine source. From these sources through the earth bound person to generate this spark. Seeing the potential of a being and knowing the potential of a being- this is the Empress. When you see a seed for watermelon, you know it will grow into a watermelon. It has watermelon potential. When you see a seed for a sunflower, you know it will grow into a sunflower. It has sunflower potential. The empress will identify the seeds of potential in any being, and knows what to provide to bring that forth.
set the rules. He will hold the vision.
The Emperor plays his part as father. After the potential of what could be, he provides the reality of what is needed. This is more external. Whereas the Empress knows the potential of what is within that can grow, the Emperor is more focused on the external. What environmental factors need to be in place to facilitate the growth of this being in a positive way? What must be provided to facilitate this growth? A true Emperor, like a father, will provide, create, and bring into being what is needed. The Emperor will
The Empress and the Emperor complement each other nicely. When they show up together in a reading for you, consider these qualities in both yourself and in any manner of partnerships you may be involved in, be it romantic, literally parents, artistic or business. How well do you work together with this partner? Without giving thought to gender, for this is a matter of universal yin/yang within us all and not gender specific roles assigned by society, is one more adept at the Empress role, and the other the Emperor? How do you share responsibilities? How do you join forces for a common good? Be mindful of this in any partnerships you may be a part of, and apply it to any new ideas and inspirations that you find developing within you. By applying both forces- that which nurtures, and that which provides, you tremendously increase the chances of success.
7 of Pentacles: Have Patience Things are going to happen at their own pace and sometimes there is little you can do to make it go faster.
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ou know you are going to have a payback for your efforts, right? You know that the work you are putting in towards achieving your goals are not for nothing, don’t you? It’s all coming together. Is it taking longer than you wanted? Too bad. Life is like that sometimes. This is not an invitation to give up. It’s an invitation to keep doing what you are doing and faith that it is all for an ultimate good. This is one of the messages that the seven of pentacles tarot card has for us.
Things are going to happen at their own pace and sometimes there is little you can do to make it go faster. The best you can do is have patience and not try to rush anything too much. You've worked hard, and that hard work is paying off. You never expected over night results, so why worry that things are not going faster? You knew when you started that it would take a while. Notice how far you have come? See how much your efforts have paid off already? Hang in there a little longer and you will have the results you set out to achieve. It really is that simple. Take a look at the guy in the Rider Waite depiction of the seven of pentacles. He’s not too excited, but he’s not distraught either. The best word to describe him is bored. He is not giving up on his project. He is not worried that his garden has not grown to monumental proportions just yet. He’s working steadily and unhurriedly. It seems as though he is pausing in this image. Why is he pausing? Why isn’t he rushing and working as fast as he can to achieve his goals? Probably because at this moment, there is nothing else to do. You can only do so much sometimes before waiting for something else to fall in place. He understands this. He respects this. It’s not like nothing has happened. It’s not as if there has been no progress made. Look at how much his garden has grown? These are not exactly seedlings he has sprouted here. It can be a good idea sometimes to reflect on the progress that you have made. Instead of fretting over what more there is to do, how about appreciating what you have achieved so far? When the seven of pentacles comes up for you in a reading, ask yourself “Am I being too hard on myself for not making things happen faster?” If the answer is yes, ask yourself this next question. Ask yourself, “Why? Why am I putting myself through this?” Then relax. Keep doing what it is that you are doing, but appreciate that you can only go so fast.
The Chariot Reversed Procrastination
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he chariot, in its upright position brings to mind one’s personal power. Here is somebody accomplishing things by the force of their own ambition. This is a go-getter. This is somebody who knows what effort needs to be put into something, and they are not going to slow down on getting done what needs to be gotten done. This is not somebody who is simply content to follow another’s lead. No, this is somebody pulling the bandwagon, not jumping on it. In its reversed position, however, instead of being a go-getter and accomplishing a goal by the force of their own determination and power, this is somebody who makes excuses. A true charioteer will not get bogged down by problems. When something seems impossible, they do not simply give up and say “It can’t be done.” No. A true charioteer will face something that seems impossible, and say “This is doable. It’s going to be a challenge, but that’s okay.”
A true charioteer will not wait until tomorrow or the next day to accomplish the task at hand. A true charioteer will not wait until tomorrow or the next day to accomplish the task at hand. They will recognize the power of the passion they feel for something and strike while the iron is hot. When inspiration hits, it is best to act on it while it is hot. To let it cool down by procrastination may only allow its power to diminish. Act on inspiration as it hits you. Don’t wait. Don’t procrastinate. Don’t let it cool down. The chariot in its reversed position advises you to get out of your rut. What is in your mind that is keeping you from acting on your inspirations, your desires, and your impulses? Whatever it is you are trying to achieve, do something towards it. Even if it is just some small task, do that thing. Every small task towards the achievement of a goal, as long as they are consistently applied, will add up to success. When the chariot comes up for you in the reverse position, ask yourself, “What excuses am I making?” Then, stop making them. Simple as that.
Featured Spread The Options Spread
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hen reading for others, you may be asked to help decide between two or more different options. It could be that these options involve traveling. Where should they move or vacation? Here is an efficient and to the point spread to help with such queries. Simply draw one card for each option being considered. Which one seems the strongest? Which one seems, based on the cards, to be the best option? Is there an obvious choice? If there is no one obvious choice, chances are both options are valid, carrying with them each their own share of possibilities.
As an example, let’s say you are asked to help somebody decide between a trip to Hawaii, or a trip to China. Draw one card for Hawaii, and one card for China. Say, 5 of Cups comes up for Hawaii, and The Sun comes up for China. In this case, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see which option is better, does it? Hawaii= sadness, disappointment for the querent. China= fun, good times. It’s pretty obvious that China is the place to be for the querent, isn’t it?
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Rider Waite: Still a Great Deck reated in 1910, The Rider Waite Tarot deck was revolutionary in its time. This was the first deck to actually do something interesting and pictorial with the minor arcana cards. For example, take, say, the five of cups. In tarot decks before this, the best anybody would do with this is just show five cups on the card- pretty boring and not very engaging. Take a look at the Tarot de Marseille for an example. Terrible minor arcana here! But back to Rider Waite- great minor arcana. Just like the major arcana, each of the minor arcana cards is a piece of art. The scenes depicting the energy of each card is richly textured replete with symbolism and drama that brings you into it the world of the tarot.
This is something you need in a tarot deck. You need to be brought into the world of the suit to spark and inspire your intuition. Even if you have no idea what a card means without looking up the meaning in a book, it is important to feel a connection to the image and its meaning to you. The Rider Waite deck does this splendidly with only one real exception, and that is the eight of wands. It’s hard not to scratch your head and say “Huh?” when you look at that one. “Are there people just out of the frame holding sticks in the picture?” But, be that as it is, the minor arcana are powerful in the Rider Waite deck. The Rider Waite deck was conceived by Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn member, Arthur Edward Waite, an occult writer of books on such subjects as freemasonry, ceremonial magick, and tarot. Essentially, he said to himself, “Hey, why are all minor arcana cards so boring in all the tarot decks? How is anybody supposed to understand what they mean? Oh look… the nine of swords has a picture of nine swords on it. Real creative.” Enter prolific artist Pamela Colman-Smith, whose work Waite was taken by. In time, the two of them collaborated on what has, to this day, become the classic rendition of tarot. How did it become known as “Rider Waite?” Its first publisher was Rider and Sons Publishing, who perhaps foresaw its long-enduring importance to the tarot community and wanted to secure their own place in history with it. And has it not had a long enduring importance to the tarot community? Over one hundred years since its initial publication, it is still a favorite to many tarot enthusiasts, having morphed from its original plates; which were destroyed in the Great War by the way, into such incarnations as The Radiant Rider Waite, The Golden Rider Waite, The Universal Rider Waite, and such. That is not to mention the fact that so many subsequent tarot decks have been created in the near likeness of The Rider Waite deck. It’s popular. People like it and want to create their own take on it. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If Waite and Coleman-Smith were alive today, let’s just say they would be really, really flattered at this point. The Rider Waite tarot deck is a great starter deck, as well as a trusty go to deck for any advanced reader. When learning to read tarot, the images and symbolism are easy to understand and remember. This sort of thing really helps when any new initiate into tarot is developing their own style. Likewise, for a reader of any level, this is a great deck to read for other people with, as you want to do more than simply recite textbook meanings of the cards to your querents. If you can present the cards to them and draw them into the world of tarot with you, they will appreciate you all the more for it. The Rider Waite deck- it is considered a classic for a reason. Learn from it, appreciate it, and treat it like as a trusty old friend.
Call for Entries
Our mission at Tarot Digest is to expand the lexicon of tarot. We want to go beyond what has already been written about and delve deeply into what the Archetypes mean. What do the Archetypes mean to you? What personal meanings have you developed? What insights have been revealed to you in your explorations of the cards? We would love to hear about these things and we encourage you to contribute your essays and articles. We would also love to receive original tarot artwork, cards, reviews, poetry, short tarot-themed fiction, interviews, and anything at all related to tarot. Each entry must be the original work of the contributor, and by the act of submitting, you attest that it is. We can only offer the exposure of your material to our readership in return, and we will offer a link to any personal website, online store, and/or listing at Amazon.com that you would like. Please send your entries to tarotdigest@gmail.com.