I have been working with Tarot Foundations and have found each Lesson and Activity to be useful, easy, and illuminating. You can catch up on all the happenings with the book here, including a special guest post from my husband, a tarot newbie. This will be my last example of how to use the book, and next week we will have the ultimate review as well as that giveaway I mentioned.Today I am using the methods Brigit outlined to tackle one of the most difficult questions any reader will ever be faced with, whether for themselves or others- When?
Day 28: Discover Timing Through the Tarot
In this section of the book, Brigit shares several different methods to use to divine timing through the cards. The reader is not bound to any method she considers "right" but is encouraged to try them all out and decide for themselves what works and what doesn't work. Some of the methods explored are using the divinatory meanings, the suits and elements, astrology, and of course, the context of the cards in the reading.
I love to do readings that glimpse possible futures for people, but even more I enjoy using tarot to delve deep into the psyche and see how the cards suggest living the best, most authentic life. To that end, I intend to use the spread Brigit included in this section, which answers many important questions and should help me make decisions with confidence.
Activity 28.1 Conduct a Timing Tarot Card Reading
The spread is as follows:
The desired event will happen when...
- Card 1 You realise...
- Card 2 You accept...
- Card 3 You acknowledge...
- Card 4 You do...
For my timing question, I would like to know when I can expect peace in my home. When I say peace, I mean people outside our home no longer influence it, when kids and pets and schedules and the careful balance between love and money are all in harmony. That is a tall order, but not impossible, and I expect some great advice from the cards!
For my answers I have this reading-
The imagery of the card with the scales in perfect balance, the figures in different positions, is striking to me. Sometimes I am doling out my resources, and sometimes I am asking for help. I am not comfortable with asking, and I need to realize that for balance there has to be both giving and taking.
Card 2: Queen of Pentacles- I will have peace in my home when I accept that I just need to be me. I often see myself as the Queen of Pentacles, so I see this card encouraging me not to try to change my own nature but rather allow myself to grow the way I am so inclined and stop judging it.
On a practical note, because the Queen of Pentacles is ever practical, I will have peace in my home when I accept that I am ultimately responsible for creating that peace, through both attitude and action. I need to think peacefully, act peacefully, and I need to get my home better organized. With five kids, everything needs a place and needs to be in its' place. I also need to organize my time better, and come at every issue with a plan so that I am prepared.
Card 3: The Sun- I will have peace in my home when I acknowledge how precious this time is, and how blessed our lives are. The imagery of the baby on a horse makes me nostalgic for when I had toddlers instead of teenagers, and it does not seem like all that long ago! They really do grow fast, and Gretchen Rubin notes in The Happiness Project the days sometimes drag but the years fly by.
Because of the positive connotations The Sun always brings, I feel I am being encouraged to express gratitude because we really have so much, each other being the biggest of those treasures. I will have peace in my home when I acknowledge that being a positive mother, wife, pet caregiver, and person in general truly has the power to bring peace and joy. However, I look back to the Queen of Pentacles, and I know that while I need to let myself be light I also have to stay grounded and keep it real, or I will feel inauthentic and despise myself. This returns to the first card about balance, give and take.
Card 4: Eight of Pentacles- I will have peace in my home when I do the work. This card has me chuckling, because it so often comes up for me when I should be working, either at my craft, business, or home, and what I am actually doing is procrastinating by watching whatever Bravo! tells me to. I can meditate, pray, journey through tarot cards, beg, plead, imagine, envision all day long, but I have to back that up with actually doing things that will improve the situation. As someone who works at home I often have issues with distinguishing between At Work and At Home. Returning to the first card, I know that I have to strike a balance, and actually do the work for both things but at different times. I am easily distracted by dishes in the sink, and when I get up to do them I usually have a brilliant (I think anyway) idea that needs to be jotted don right away. I need time for work, time for home, time for me, time for my family, time for my husband, and I need to distinguish between those times and fully dedicate myself to whichever task is at hand instead of being distracted.
The Shadow Card of this reading is the Two of Pentacles, which is not surprising at all to me. The Shadow Card, at the bottom of the deck when I lay out a reading, gives me some insight, usually something I am placing as far away from myself as possible. I struggle with balancing all of life's details, like many people, and I often feel overwhelmed yet terrified of dropping any of the balls I have in the air.So many Pentacles tell me that this truly is a valid reading about my home, and give practical advice to reach my goal.
I chose to do a spread basically says when I do x, y will happen. I like the kinds of spreads and questions that put the power in my hands, and I am truthfully not very good at nailing down timing in reading the cards anyway, so I played to my strengths. However, there are techniques included for divining if not exact, pretty close timing, so you can explore and experiment with those, too. One of the greatest lessons I ever learned about reading tarot is that each reader should take what works for them and discard the rest.
If you are intrigued by Brigit Esselmont's quick and simple way to learn tarot, I encourage you to Click here to visit Biddy Tarot.
These cards are from Radiant Rider Waite Tarot published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc. The original art was done by Pamela Colman Smith, and mine have been lovingly released from their white borders.
These tarot cards have attractive color. They all have their own meaning. Each card briefly description has given here.
ReplyDeleteLOVE this reading that you have done and the cards you have drawn! So incredibly powerful and so representative of how, I believe, many working mums feel.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Brigit! Obviously I was hoping for cards that indicated I was going to win the lottery soon so I would be able to pay someone to instill peace on my house, take care of details, and leave me free to write, but no, that did not come out in the cards. So, we keep on working on the dance of balancing love and money.
DeleteI love that Day 28: Discover Timing Through the Tarot allows for both predictive readings and readings that are more for gaining insight. That works for all different kinds of readers, and I am impressed!
I love the idea of a Shadow card at the bottom of the deck! Thank you for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteI don't remember where I originally started using a Shadow card, but I know I was doing it before I had any books or people to talk tarot with, way back as a teenager. Brigit talks about the uses of a Shadow Card in Tarot Foundations, too!
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