Tarot Foundations by Brigit Esselmont, Day 9

Today I am continuing my series on Brigit Esselmont, of Biddy Tarot, latest eBook, Tarot Foundations: 31 Days to Read Tarot With Confidence.  Click here to visit Biddy Tarot.

Almost every day, people ask me how they can read tarot like I do.  Truthfully, no one is ever going to read tarot like me, and no one is ever going to read tarot like you, either.  It is such an intensely personal thing, and you will be exactly the kind of reader you are meant to be, and exactly the people who need to hear your message will come to you.  That is just a mystery about how it works.  But I can tell you that it is entirely possible to spend the rest of your life learning new things about tarot.  I do every day, even after 23 years!  The quickest, easiest way I have found to dive into tarot like a pro is Brigit's method she outlines in Tarot Foundations: 31 Days to Read Tarot With Confidence so I am excited to share it with you!

After having been walked through the steps of choosing a deck (you all know at close to a thousand decks I have that one down) and choosing which, if any, books you will work with, Tarot Foundations: 31 Days to Read Tarot With Confidence teaches you how and why to keep a tarot journal.  This is an invaluable tool which I have used since I was 12 years old, and still use daily today.  In many ways, this blog you are reading in fact serves as an online tarot journal for me, and Brigit makes it a simple process.  There is no need to be intimidated by the thought of a tarot journal, and like so much with tarot you can take what is useful to you and discard the rest.

Day 9: Learn About The Minor Arcana

Mystic Dreamer Tarot- Eight of Pentacles

The Minor Arcana are the meat and potatoes of your tarot deck, and they are all too often seen by readers and deck creators alike as not as "important" as the Major Arcana, which is a mistake, in my opinion, and in Brigit's.  The Major Arcana deals with archetypes, karma, and major themes happening in our lives, so they do matter a great deal, but the Minor Arcana deal with what we do every day, and we spend more time there than the grand sphere of archetypal energies.  If you are working with your full deck (excuse me a little chuckle here), most readings will have more cards from the Minor Arcana than the Majors, so having a good grasp on them is essential to your tarot reading happiness.  (To tell you a little secret, there are times when I will separate the Majors from the Minors, pull one Major Arcana as a theme to the reading, and pull all the rest of the cards from the Minors, because they do matter that much.)

Once again, in just a few pages, Brigit Esselmont has simplified and de-mystified a sometimes daunting subject, and the reading and Activities give incredible bang for the buck of time spent with them.  It won't take long out of your day to do them, but you will learn so much!

Before beginning today's Activities, Brigit makes sure you have a firm grasp on the essence of each suit and there is chart included in the pages to refer back to if you get confused.  I did the following in my own voice.

Activities

9.1.  Associate the Suits with Your Daily Activities

List the main activities you engaged in during the past week.  How would you categorise the activities according to the Minor Arcana suits?

• Wands- I have been participating in National Novel Writing Month, wherein each author endeavors to complete a 50,000 word novella in just thirty days.  This is about my passion and fire for writing, and keeping it alive through an intense period of time with work that can seem grueling.
• Cups- We celebrated Thanksgiving here in the United States, which brought family around, always emotional for me, but usually good emotions.  My husband's birthday was celebrated, and I cried to see him so pleased with his gifts and party.  We had family portraits done, and we have yet to have a session in which someone doesn't tear up, but that is the price of having such a large one with so many diverse personalities.  This week has been intense emotionally, with everything happening, but also incredibly rewarding.
• Swords- I mistype "Swords" as "words" several times every day, and words have literally been flying around me, in my NaNoWriMo project, and in some minor family disputes where words had to be exchanged.  Also, to make the holidays come together requires a great deal of talking and communication, so I have been doing a lot of that.  I am also doing two different Blog Talk Radio shows this week, and have clients booked, so there is even more talking!
• Pentacles- With the holidays so near, and my husband's birthday just passing, money is constantly leaving our hands it seems like just now.  My husband, just last night, gifted me with an early (and better be only) Christmas present- a brand new laptop which I sorely needed, having been given the blue screen of death by my old one a few months ago.  This is an example of a physical resource that will generate more physical resources.  As a writer, I need a dedicated computer, and as a small business owner it certainly makes time management easier to have a good working computer.

9.2. Give Advice According to the Suits

Mystic Dreamer Tarot- Six of Swords

Imagine you are giving a friend some advice about creating a budget/finding love/making a career move.  What would you tell him or her from the perspective of each suit?

For example, going on a holiday...

• Wands- Go wherever you get really excited when you think about it, wherever your heart literally pounds and you feel shaky, maybe a little sweaty, with the excitement of going.
• Cups- Go with a lover, if you have one, or with someone you trust utterly.  Make it about making memories to last you a lifetime after you return.
• Swords- Make sure you get all the details of the trip in writing, that your rates are guaranteed in writing, and that you have all your passports, even for domestic travel, and paperwork in place.  Do research in advance and leave with a plan for what you want to do some days, while leaving some free for spontaneous fun.
• Pentacles- Know what to pack, how much money to bring, and how much you can afford to spend on this trip.  If you don't have the cash or vacation time ready, save some up.  You don't want these worries while you are trying to enjoy this special time.

Brigit finishes this day with these words:

Once you have learned more about the Suits from Day 10 to 13, come back to this activity and add to your answers.  Try it out with different scenarios.

Once again, I did not spend a long time with this reading or doing these Activities, but I, even as a seasoned reader, got so much out of them!  That is why Tarot Foundations: 31 Days to Read Tarot With Confidence by Brigit Esselmont gets the 78 Whispers seal of approval, and why I am so delighted to share her methods with you all!  Click here to visit Biddy Tarot.

In the spirit of full honesty, if you choose to buy the eBook from a link you click here I will receive a portion of the sale, but my endorsements are not for sale, and I only share products I use and find genuinely useful with you.  I work hard for my money and I know you do, too!

If you are working through this book I'd love to hear how it's going for you!  Please share in the comments, or drop me an email at 78WhispersTarot at gmail.





I chose the Eight of Pentacles to signify working at learning something new, resources invested, and rewards reaped.  I chose the Six of Swords as a card of travel.

These cards are from Mystic Dreamer Tarot by Heidi Darras and Barbara Moore, published by Llewellyn.