Tarot Foundations by Brigit Esselmont- Day 28

Keep your eyes on this space for an exciting giveaway courtesy of Brigit Esselmont, author of two great tarot eBooks The Ultimate Guide to Tarot Card Meanings and her newest- Tarot Foundations: 31 Days to Read Tarot with Confidence, and the brilliant creator of the Biddy Tarot website.  Click here to visit Biddy Tarot.

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-

Card 1: Six of Pentacles- I will have peace in my home when I realize that every thing I am doing is keeping me from doing something else.  There needs to be a balance because when I am spending time doing the dishes I am not creating.  When I am driving kids around I am not with my husband.  When I am zoning out in front of the tv I am not engaged with the kids.  When I am playing games with the kidtauplets I am not doing laundry.  Taking one client means that time is not available to another.  For this reason it is unbelievably important that every way I spend my time is either getting me closer to my goals, enhancing my family, or taking care of myself or others that depend on me.

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.

Guest Post From A Tarot Newbie- Tarot Foundations by Brigit Esselmont

Mark & Mandy in SIL's kitchen
(Sadly, right before the Broncos
blew their playoff game.)

Hello, hello everyone!  Today you get a break from me and my writing, and we begin a week long countdown to an exciting giveaway here at 78 Whispers!  In the meantime, I have recruited a handsome, funny, articulate man (my husband Mark) to share his thoughts on Tarot Foundations: 31 Days to Read Tarot with Confidence by Brigit Esselmont, because while I am an avid reader of everything pertaining to tarot, my great passion, I am also experienced at reading tarot.  That does not mean this book has not been helpful to me; far from it!  I learned something from every single Lesson and Activity, and that is astounding to me!  But I thought you may enjoy the thoughts of someone who owns a deck of tarot cards only because he won them at San Francisco Bay Area Tarot Symposium  (they happen to be The Steele Wizard Tarot, self published by the amazing Pamela Steele) which he attended to be with me (and be in San Francisco, our favorite city we dream of moving to), and has never read a tarot book in his life.  I think he gave me one reading, in which he predicted my death (just kidding, just kidding) but the deck is so suited to his personality he has enjoyed just looking through it, though not much more.

If you would like to get caught up on my work with Tarot Foundations: 31 Days to Read Tarot with Confidence you can find those posts here.

So, with no further adieu, please welcome Mark to 78 Whispers!

Hi All!

I was asked by the lovely Amanda to write a guest blog for my take on Brigit Esselmont’s Tarot Foundations: 31 Days to Read Tarot with Confidence.  I will tell you now that I have no experience with Tarot decks other than watching the magic performed by other professionals.  I am the equivalent of a roadie, always around to enjoy the show but not skillful or confident enough to step into the spotlight.

Since Amanda has been a practicing Tarot reader for some time, quite experienced in readings and the intricacies of the cards, she asked for my take, a beginner’s take, on Brigit’s book.  After all I am the target audience.  I am, to say the least, a conflicting mess of excitement (you mean I can read cards?!?) to terror (I’m no psychic!).  With these emotions I began my journey. 

To my relief I was not asked to set up a booth and practice trial and error on innocents.  Instead the book starts out benignly enough (and right at my speed!) with a simple introduction to the author (who is very encouraging!) and the first five days of setting up your success.  The book is laid out so you expand your knowledge and confidence a little at a time.  Lessons are divided up over 31 days with most lessons only one to three pages in length.  This means you will not be required to invest an innumerable amount of hours into this endeavor.  You can take as much time as you feel comfortable with and can do multiple lessons a day if you feel like you have momentum.  I love the flexibility this offers as I’m sure most of you will appreciate being able to slip this in whenever your busy lives allow.   I feel “lessons” isn’t quite the right word.   These are not boring “do as I tell you” lessons but actually an immersive bonding exercise aligning you spiritually with your deck and yourself.  And did I mention fun?  I quite enjoyed learning about the cards, spreads and feeling more confident as I handled the cards.  These are more like experiences than lessons, as each section has you practicing or engaging with the Tarot on some level.  Just like life each experience builds on the one before it. 

The whole experience is quite insidious (in a good way!) in luring you in and moving you forward.  I am still working my way through my journey as I write this but I feel Brigit has paved a smooth road for me to follow and I assure you I will be speeding down it in short order.  As the title hints this is a foundation and the author does quite well at establishing a framework that I can say I feel comfortable and confident with my capabilities as a future Tarot reader.

Enjoy!
Mark

Thank you, Handsome, for chiming in!  I think his praise is even more moving than mine, as he is truly starting at basically no knowledge and learning from there.  If you are intrigued and excited, like Mark, you can Click here to visit Biddy Tarot.

(If you purchase anything from this link, I will earn a portion of the sale as an affiliate, but I am not really interested in selling you anything.  I just want to share exciting resources and my own experiences with the cards.)

Tarot Foundations by Brigit Esselmont, Day 16

The holidays, then a round of nasty sickness going through my house, myself, husband, and five kids, and maybe even the dog and cats, threw me off schedule, but I am still going to bring you some great posts about Tarot Foundations: 31 Days to Read Tarot with Confidence by Brigit Esselmont, culminating with an exciting giveaway next week!  If you need to catch up, see the previous posts here.

Today I am working with Day 16: Understand Basic Numerology.  The lesson has to do with how numbers work in the tarot, but if math isn't your thing, don't worry.  Your skills won't be taxed at all!

In her easy going style, Brigit breaks down how each pip card in tarot relates to a number, and what you can count on those numbers to mean.  You don't have to become an expert in numerology to use it well with tarot, either.  A basic understanding, which Brigit makes sure you have in this one lesson, will go far in enhancing your tarot readings, and even help you when you notice numbers elsewhere, like the clock reading 11:11 and you see it all the time.  Tarot knowledge is useful everywhere!

Activity 16.1- Map the Numerological Journey

Select one suit to work with. Take out all the pip cards in that Suit (i.e. from Ace to 10) and lay the cards out in order in front of you (see example to the right).
Now, apply your knowledge of the Suit (e.g. Cups = emotions, relationships, creativity) and your knowledge of numerology to map the journey from the Ace through the Ten.
Note down 2-3 keywords or phrases for each card using only what you know about the Suit and the numerological association.

Llewellyn Tarot, trimmed, Suit of Swords

I like to let tarot guide me, so I shuffled my Llewellyn Tarot, which I am using this week, with the intention that the first suit I encountered would be the one I used for this exercise.  I drew the Five of Swords, and so it was decided!

In my tarot world view, the suit of Swords relates to the element of Air, which is ruled by the astrological signs of Aquarius, Gemini, and Libra.  Swords concern thoughts, words, communications, ideas, conflicts, actions to take, dreams and mental processes.  The Swords suit is more than that, too, but for a start that is pretty good.

• Ace/Swords- New ideas, new ways of thinking, powerful thoughts to focus
• Two/Swords-  Choice to be made, pause for consideration, weighing options
• Three/Swords- Delay in what was desired, thoughts not matching reality, take time out to heal
• Four/Swords- A moment to let thoughts sink in, pause for breath, prophetic dreams
• Five/Swords- Faulty thinking patterns, need to assess priorities matching values, deciding if the ends are merit the means
• Six/Swords- Peace of mind, mental help from a helpful source, moving on mentally
• Seven/Swords- Need to assess motive, assess faith in ability to provide for self, need to think outside the box
• Eight/Swords- Need to realize ones' own power, understand you are in this situation with a purpose, deciding for yourself when changes happen
• Nine/Swords- Self fulfilling prophecy, thinking oneself into a frenzy, finding a solution
• Ten/Swords- The worst is over now, release, ability to start over

Once complete, revisit your keyword chart and add any new keywords to your chart.  If you have time, repeat for the other suits, including the Major Arcana.

That's it, it was that easy, thanks to Brigit breaking down numerology so succinctly, and even though I have read tarot for quite a while, her methods have helped me add some new keywords to my repertoire.  No such thing as too many options!

Don't forget, along with the purchase of this eBook, you get unlimited access to a special forum on Biddy Tarot dedicated to the use of you and other students on the program, and it is quite affordable.  Click here to visit Biddy Tarot.

(Full disclosure- I do earn a portion of the purchase price if you click on links in this blog, but I affiliate with very few programs because few meet my high standards.  I highly recommend this program and that is why I am writing about it!)



These cards represent the full suit of the Swords pip cards, 1-10, from the Llewellyn Tarot by Anna-Marie Ferguson, published by Llewellyn.  Mine have been lovingly released of their borders, but the borders were quite pretty.  It is all personal taste.

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.

Tarot Foundations by Brigit Esselmont, Day 1

Do you read my blog because tarot interests you but you don't know how to read for yourself?  Or are you a fellow reader who is, like me, always looking to strengthen your skills?  No matter what your interest in tarot, I have some exciting news!  Brigit Esselmont of Biddy Tarot, a site I'm sure you've come across if you've ever Googled "tarot", has a new eBook out called Tarot Foundations: 31 Days To Read Tarot With Confidence, and she has graciously invited me to share some segments with you all!

You all know me.  I have been reading Tarot for over 23 years, and it is how I earn my living.  There is nothing else I'd rather do, even sit on the sofa and eating bon bons and watching a "The Real Housewives of Anywhere" marathon, because even when I am doing that I am pulling cards about the people on the shows.  Do I need a book like this?  The answer is yes, I do.  There is no such thing as having too many skills too well honed.  Beyond that, I love taking beginner Tarot courses because there is nothing like new eyes to really bring to light details I may overlook in familiarity.  Brigit kindly offers a community on her website to participate in learning, growing and trying the activities in this book with others online.  This is included with the purchase of her new eBook.

Over the next few weeks I am going to share some of the Activities with you, although Brigit does recommend you do them in order over 31 days. She has made the lessons brief enough that is totally possible yet chock full of information so they are totally worthwhile!

You may as well start at the beginning so today we'll look at Day 1.  In the Lesson for this day Brigit breaks down the very fundamentals of tarot.

• What is the Tarot?
• How does the Tarot work?
• How can the Tarot be used?
• Understanding the present or predicting the future?

In a couple of concise yet entertaining pages Brigit neatly explains what I do every day, and does so eloquently.  All of the above questions are answered, and then you'll know, so simple.

We are then taken to the Activities.  I am doing the Activities in my voice, and yours will and should look different, as your answers will be different.  That is just one of the may joys of the Tarot!

The Student & Universal Hope Cards, to me

1.1  Identify Your Personal Motivations
     -What inspired you to learn Tarot?

I happened across a deck of Writer Waite Smith cards in a Hallmark Store (for those not in the States, they sell birthday cards, stationary, ornaments, journals, that type of thing) when I was 12 years old.  I had no idea what they were but as soon as I saw that yellow box I wanted them and I conspired to come up with the $8 they cost (that was a lot more money then!)  When I finally got them home I discovered that while the titles were in English, what I didn't know then was called The Little White Book was in Swedish, so I had this pack of 78 cards with beautiful pictures I had no idea what to do with.  I lived far far out in the country so my access to any book on the subject was limited, and there was o such thing as the Internet, plus there were not nearly as many books available then as we are blessed with today.  I was fascinated by the cards anyway so I used them to tell myself stories and slowly they began to tell me secrets, about understanding myself, about potential futures (that sometimes came true!) and I was always entranced by them.

What I discovered when I eventually had access to books was that the meanings I had come up with on my own were pretty darn close to what Mr. Waite had in mind when he directed Pamela Colman Smith in

painting those images, and the same will be true for you with any deck you resonate with.  The pictures will tell you a story you understand perfectly.  That is the magic of the Tarot!

Looking Inward

I guess I was inspired to learn Tarot because I was like a moth being drawn to a flame.  It was irresistable to me, but I have never been burned.  Tarot has ever had my back!

1.2  How do you plan to use the Tarot cards?
Many times in many religions or forms of spirituality we are admonished to pray.  For me Tarot is where I hear my answers.

I plan to use the Tarot cards for introspection, personal reflection, fortune telling, divination, and to delight me with the share joy of a beautiful deck (the definition of divination is to commune with the Divine).

What is your personal philosophy on the Tarot?  What can/can't the Tarot do?

Mystery, Secrets

I personally believe the Tarot covers every aspect of life.  I believe its 78 little pieces of the universe broken apart and reformed in infinite variety to reflect every situation back to ourselves in a way we can understand.

I believe the Tarot can:

• Help us clarify and understand our feelings.
• Help us understand the current energies surrounding us.
• Take a snapshot in time from which we can divine a probable outcome if nothing changes.
• Help us make the decisions that help us align best with our highest purpose.
• Help us create the future we want most.

I believe the Tarot cannot:

•  Harm myself or anyone else.
• Affect the free will of any being.
• Draw negative spirits.
• Set the future in stone.

This is the first half of the Activities given on Day 1, and even though I completed them quickly and with ease, even I, as a seasoned reader, had to think deeply on the subject and was somewhat surprised with my answers!  The Activities only get more exciting as we start to actually with the cards that make up the Tarot, so watch this space for more to come, and an exciting giveaway!

If I have whet your appetite for Tarot Foundations: 31 Days To Read Tarot With Confidence by Brigit Esselmont, Click here to visit Biddy Tarot to learn more! (Full disclosure- if you purchase anything from the links in this post, I do receive a percentage of the sale.  I will only ever endorse products I both use and believe in, and I have never tried to sell you all anything before, nor is my intention to start now.  I just want to share something I am finding really cool with you, as well as help Brigit spread the word about her new eBook, because she is truly a valued member of the Tarot community!)

These images are from The Pocket Universal Waite Tarot, not my first deck but one I reach for often.  The original artwork was done by Pamela "Pixie" Colman Smith under the direction of Arthur Edward Waite, and this gorgeous recoloring was done by Mary Hanson Roberts.  This deck is published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc.