Tarot: a welcoming tool of spiritual enlightenment
Turn the cards over one by one, or all at once, and you have a rorschach ready made for your projection. Clients come for predictions. They wish to know the future — money, love, health. It’s entertainment, too, as per the longstanding blue laws in many states.
Tarot reading tells a story using beautifully illustrated cards filled with symbolism and arcane knowledge tied to archetypal explorations. What archetype are you? Today! Will you get that same card tomorrow?
I’ve been reading at my booth DIvinations & Bodycraft, 11 Mystic Way, NYRenFaire, Tuxedo NY for 40+ years. Don’t send maiil there, it’s not really an address where I can receive delivery. People sit down for reading for so many reasons.
This past weekend, I spent a day at Staarcon, virtually, a tarot conference. I only stayed for one day. It was Sunday. It was fun! What would you imagine wouold happen Sunday morning at a tarot conference? Well,this was the first preesntation on the schedule: A pairing of Bible passages with Tarot cards from the Rider-Waite-Smith deck by Kim Danbert, tarologist and spiritual educator. Kim did a magnificent job. I especially loved her pairing of the Ace of Cups with the words of Psalm 23, “my cup runneth over.”
Cards, crystals and stones on my table at NYRenFaire
It’s not typical for me to go to Sunday sermon. I’ve been to a few Quaker meetings and some Unitarian services, Those are more Bible optional religious groups, as far as I can tell. I’ve also been to occasional Jewish services, some of which I’ve liked more than others. I like the Jewish tradition of reading the Old Testament over the course of one year. It makes services seem like a holy book club. I like that idea of studying a book again and again. Especially the kind of book that has metaphor and meaning, archetypes and ancient roots. Those are the best.
The idea of pairing Bible passages and Tarot cards comes across as a grand matching of archetypal images and poety, an ancient art itself. Passages can be affirmations! I love this idea of a vision board using words and pictures from several spiritual sources. It could be like the winter holiday card, designed in a myriad of ways, that depicts many different languages all spellling out Peace. How else might a concept of spirit be conveyed? Imagine pairings with the poetry and art of Blake or the writing of feminists. These are the explorations that send me researching spirituality, myth and fairy tale connections.
Tarot paired with Harry Potter, paired with characters from Dickens, or popular series we are binging in the pandemonium as we stay home. These sound enriching and spiritual. Have a cup of chai, ooooooooh wait, pairing different teas with the characters on the major arcana, or a restuant with dishes named after Tarot cards, mmmmhh, yum. So much to consider. Good luck in all your spiritual seekings.
By Martha Rand on January 26, 2021.
Exported from Medium on March 1, 2023.
