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.

Daily Draw- Six of Wands, Eight of Swords, The Star

I am going to keep on using Thorhammer's Daily Spread because it's such a good way to reflect upon my days, and I am enjoying it immensely!  What I Did Well Today, What I Need to Leave Behind From Today, What I Should Carry Forward From Today Into Tomorrow-

Witches Tarot by Ellen Dugan- Six of Wands, Eight of Swords, The Star

What I did well today- Six of Wands: Today I acted like a winner, so I was one.  Sometimes, I feel like life is kicking my ass, but today I decided to kick life's ass instead.  The Six of Wands follows the tumultuous Five, and I can let that drag me down, the dramas big and small, or I can decide how I feel.  And today, I feel like a winner.  No matter what happens, my joy is separate from my circumstances.  Happiness does not come from where we are or what we have.  It comes from inside.  The rest is just frosting on the cake.

What I need to leave behind from today- Eight of Swords:  Do you ever feel sorry for yourself?  Sometimes, I feel sorry for myself, and that is a stinky attitude to have.  The figure in this card is bound, but her home is right behind her.  All she has to do is turn around and go.  Home is what centers us, and even bound and blindfolded, we can find it.  I have a beautiful home, full of beautiful people and absolutely fragrant with the love we have for each other.  Nothing else matters as much as this, and nothing can take it away from me.  Except me.  And then only with my occasionally stinky attitude.

What I should carry forward from today into tomorrow- The Star:  I felt beautiful today, and I felt beautiful because I did beautiful things, for myself, and for other people.  I felt beautiful because my husband told me I was, and instead of fighting him, I just accepted his love. I felt confident, capable, sexy, strong, and well on the road to healing.  The Star is a figure of eternal hope, and as I said in the first card, nothing can steal my joy.  I am always hopeful.  She stands with one foot on the Earth, fully grounded, and one in the Waters of emotion, and she herself comes from the Heavens.  She is fully of this world and fully aware of her emotions and she is well aware that we have to take each moment here as it comes but that there is more than the day to day grind.

Witches Tarot by Ellen Dugan- Strength

The Shadow Card of the reading is Strength, which reminds me that my insecurities and the issues I struggle with aren't magically disappearing, nor do I really want them to.  I mean, on the one hand it would nice if I could wave a magic wand and have it all just go away, but the Strength card reminds me that growth occurs through mastering the things that niggle at me.  It is also a beautiful affirmation that I can.




 
These images are from Witches Tarot by Ellen Dugan and Mark Evans, published by Llewellyn.

Too Many Deaths, Not Enough Tears

Tarot of the Mystic Spiral- Devil, King of Pentacles, Star, Four of Wands

During a dreary week in mid-February my world lost two people.  The world at large lost many more, of course, and there is no way to measure the value of individual lives to those they touch, and I would not even try.  One person I did not know at all, and one I was intimately acquainted with, at least at one point in time.  One death affected me deeply, and one I did not shed a tear over.  I am puzzled by my own reactions, and am using the cards to help explore those feelings.  Two people died, both too young, both likely from their hard living ways.

Tarot of the Mystic Spiral- Death

The first card, The Devil, is the card I pulled in answer to, "Why did I have such a deep sadness over Whitney Houston's death?"  I see the horror of addiction, and I know first hand how awful it is to stand near someone and watch them descend into madness.  It seems so easy for those for us who are not addicted, myself included, to think the addict can just walk away, just choose life over the death they are surely constructing by their own means.  At hearing of the songstress' death, I just felt so unbelievably heavy and sad.  So much to offer the world, an unmatchable voice, beauty, charm, money and the talent to get more whenever, and it was still not enough.  Since I never knew her personally, I think I was relating this to people I know and love, the sadness that their gifts go unoffered, because they don't know how to let go of the temporary respite found in the arms of the substance of choice.  If you never look up, the dark wings of the Devil could certainly feel as warm as the arms of an angel, and let us not forget that he is seductive.  So much beauty, like Lucifer, the fallen angel Christian lore has come to associate with the devil, so corrupted.

The next two cards, the King of Pentacles combined with The Star, answer my question, "Why do I not have any tears to shed for Vern's (my sisters' father, I guess stepfather to me) death?"   I pulled two because I could not make head nor tail of the King of Pentacles on his own.  The King is what I understand as a quintessential father and provider, and while I have no wish to decry this man, he was far from that, for me.  And there The Star makes perfect sense- I have no wish to defame his character.  I have healed from the wounds of my childhood, and I am no longer emotionally bound to him.  The King of Pentacles most often appears in my personal readings as my husband, and in this marriage I have healed a great many of my hurts.  He is the kind of father I would have wished to have, and he loves me the way children should see their mother being loved.  This is so important in the lives of children, because girls learn how they should be treated by observing the way their mother is, and boys who will become men learn how to express love by seeing the way the important men in their lives treat their mothers.

I see the way The Devil and The Star reflect each other, in the way the figures carry themselves, in the way one represents ultimate sickness and one deep healing.  The beauty of The Star is what The Devil presents to us while we are being seduced, but that facade cannot be maintained for long.  I see the desperation and terror in The Devil, but the eternal hope of The Star can never be extinguished, and I have the hope that everyone I love can release themselves from the chains of The Devil and immerse themselves in the healing waters of The Star.  I have that same hope for myself.  In my case, the King of Pentacles, who is my husband in my readings, stands between these two Trumps, as well as remembering that developing the qualities of this Court Card- solidity, good work ethic, being a person of integrity is the way I can step away from my own wounds and heal myself.  Just living a good life, that is powerful.

The Four of Wands is my lesson in this mess.  This card has special significance for me at this time in my life, as I am feeling the return of Venus in my natal Aries in some interesting ways, and the Four of Wands is assigned to Venus in Aries according to the Golden Dawn tradition most tarot decks are based on.  Fours are stable, Wands are passion and inspiration, so this card represents marriage perfectly as passion that has been stabilized.  My lesson is to stabilize all the passion I feel, which has at times manifested as hurt to be drowned out with substances, and at times living life on the edge.  I don't have to live that way anymore, and I am not doomed to repeat the mistakes of my parents.  I can and do live in a happy marriage, the cradle of a happy family life.  My children have parents who adore them, who put their needs first and who make sure they know it.  One of the beautiful things about having kids is the chance to redo your own childhood, if you are aware enough to rewrite those patterns.

Tarot of the Mystic Spiral- Five of Wands

The Shadow card of this reading, some extra bit of information I am avoiding or don't really want to see is the Five of Wands.  This rendition shows the tangled webs we weave, and I often see the Five of Wands as internal conflict.  In my own world, I know that I can have a tendency to blame the utter crapfest that was my childhood for everything that happens now.  My teeth are garbage because my mother never saw fit to take us to the Medicaid dentist.  I have trust issues because my parents broke it over and over.  I could go on and on, but there is no point.  The past can't be fixed, and to dwell there only tangles myself up in negativity.  I am the lady in this picture, and I am too big now, spiritually and emotionally, to be caught in the spiders' web.  It's gossamer, to float away on the wind.

I wish Whitney and Vern, both souls who liked to live fast and had innumerable gifts to offer to the world, the kind of peace I don't think either of them ever knew in life.  I offer up the affection I had for her music, and the way I wanted to be able love him, in honor and trust that the Hereafter offers more chances to be exactly who we are meant to be, and the hope that they both find that.





These cards are from Tarot of the Mystic Spiral by Giovanni Pelosini and Giuseppe Palumbo, published by Lo Scarabeo.

Deck Interview with Tarot of the Mystic Spiral

Tarot of the Mystic Spiral- The Stars, Temperance, The Hanged Man

All Majors tell me this is a deck with something to say, right off the bat!  I like it.  Mars and Venus are conjunct for me, and I have found that makes me crave intensity.

I want very much to go back to daily blogging and weekly use of a single deck, because that has been the time I have been happiest with my personal tarot practice, and I am an advocate for going with what works.  This week I have chosen Tarot of the Mystic Spiral, illustrated by Giuseppe Palumbo, with the Little White Book written by Giovanni Pelosini, published in 2011 by Lo Scarabeo.

The first question was, "What can I expect from you as a deck?"  The Stars, a bright omen of healing and tenderness, as well as the eternal symbol of hope.  I find this rendition exceptionally beautiful, as well, the misty air and of course the gorgeous femininity.  I can expect this deck to always be pointing the way to beauty, hope, and healing.  That is a pretty great quality in a deck!

The second question was, "What shall be my end of the bargain?"  and Temperance was the answer, which is amusing to me, because learning to be temperate is one of my life's biggest lessons.  I think of this card as the active management of life, and I think of it as "doing the work" ala Steven Pressfield.  So, to work effectively with this deck I need to remember that slow and steady wins the race.  This is another healing card, being associated with Sagittarius, where my Moon sign lays, so I can know that this deck is going to appeal to my emotions at times, and help me to process them in a healthy way.

Anything else I should be aware of?  The Hanged Man.  This deck is not a quickfire kind of read.  I will have to invest some time and be willing to change my perspective to garner the most use from it.  All three cards are intensely positive cards, but none are fast moving cards.  For example, The Star is hopeful, but wishing on a star is not the kind of intense and immediate optimism The Sun brings when it breaks through the clouds.  Temperance is about alchemical process, and anyone who took high school chemistry knows that the work behind the great experiences is methodical, and can be quite tedious at times.  The Hanged Man might blow in the wind but he isn't going anywhere too fast.

Tarot of the Mystic Spiral- Two of Cups

The Shadow card, which I understand as what the reading is about, or a little tidbit I am overlooking, is the Two of Cups.  My basic understanding of the card has to do with sacred contracts, and the lovers in this card are literally entwining themselves together.  As I come back to my work while healing from a difficult injury, I am reminded that doing what we love is the sacred path we are given to walk on, and it is no coincidence I have chosen this specific deck to work with this week.  The picture of the lovers coming together, as close as physically possible the better to reflect in the corporeal world their spiritual closeness, is a representation of the sacred contract with have with ourselves, to grow, to learn, to be the best we can be, and to shine out into the world as such.





These cards are from Tarot of the Mystic Spiral by Giovanni Pelosini and Giuseppe Palumbo, published by Lo Scarabeo.

Daily Draw - Chariot, Star, Ace of Cups

Crystal Visions Tarot- Chariot, Star, Ace of Cups

"This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill

Fifteen percent concentrated power of will

Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain

And a hundred percent reason to remember the name!"

~Lyrics from "Remember the Name" by Fort Minor

Today these cards make me think about the love we have to have for what we do, and the fact that as much as we love, that is still never enough.

The Chariot, my birth card (for more information about birth cards check out Bonnie Cehovet's Tarot, Birth Cards, and You, Keys to Empowering Yourself.  It's a great book with practical ways to actually use tarot in your every day life!) is a card that shows victory, and charging forward, but it is does not just happen.  "Victory through mastery" is a common set of keywords for The Chariot, and mastery comes from doing, every single day.  I have heard the number 10,000 hours bandied about, and that seems pretty close to me the amount of time it takes to master something.

And what do you do to a Chariot?  You drive it, right?  Drive is both a quality and a verb, and both aspects are required.  Without the drive, those horses are gonna go any which way they choose, and Rush reminds us, "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."  The Chariot is a card that is so promising, so positive, but is a card that requires action.  We will win, but we have to go after it, with every ounce of our being.  Victory is assured, as long as we show up and play our A game.  It won't just be handed to us.

The Star is a beautiful card, of hope and healing, beauty and poetry, but it is a far away card.  It's a light at the end of the tunnel, but it is a far off light.  It does not illuminate, only promises that you are not forgotten.  To me, this card speaks today about the optimism and deep faith it takes to follow our dreams.  We have to really believe that it is possible, and we need that ten percent luck Fort Minor rapped about at times.

The Ace of Cups is all about love, and we have to love what we do.  Aces are potential, and as the culminating card of this reading I see that Drive + Unflagging Faith = Unlimited Potential for Love, which surely is an equation I can get behind.

Crystal Visions Tarot- Two of Cups

The shadow card for this reading is the Two of Cups, which is all about sacred contracts to me.  It's also pleasure and adoration, so while the work we are sent here to do is sacred, and there is nothing more important than being the best possible version of ourselves, it doesn't have to always be so serious.  We can approach life, and our own purpose, with a sense of love and fun.  I see the teeny little fairy in the background as the figure from The Star, having left her vessels representing hope and trust with the couple, and as they drink deeply and slake their thirst they become ever more what they were always meant to be.





These cards are from Crystal Visions Tarot by Jennifer Galasso for U.S. Games Systems, Inc.

Monday Majors- Theme for the Week: The Star

My theme for the week, according to the Major Arcana is The Star, a beautiful card that symbolizes eternal hope and healing close at hand.  When we wonder if the light at the end of the tunnel is the end, or another oncoming train, The Star is what we are hoping to see.

The Star can be a mixed bag kind of card, though, as much as we'd like to don the rose colored glasses and say it ain't so.  There is hope and healing there, for sure, but it may not be quite as quickly coming as we want, especially when we are in pain.  Stars are distant and far away, not immediate and fervent like The Sun.  The Latin on this particular card translates to, "All things clean to the clean" which insinuates, to me at least, that perhaps the seeming help and hope she offers is not quite as free as we would like to believe.  There is some work to be done by us.

There is also the element of wishing on a star, and the way that thinking could leave us disempowered, as if we are not in fact in control of our destiny.  And, although we are coming out of the night time circuit of cards that the Wheel of Fortune may have spit us out into, we are not out of the woods yet.  The Star is one card before the madness of The Moon, and her fractured light is shining on the ruins of The Tower.  She is literally between a rock and a hard place, and while that is the eye of the storm and we can be grateful for her respite, we still have miles to go in a dark place to get to The Sun, and our demons to face.  She does not promise to see us safely, just gives us hope for the possibility.

Update: August 29, 2011- The Star manifested herself in my life this week in much way the way I had anticipated.  There has been lots of promise for hope and healing, but it is far off and not free for the taking.  No wishing on a Star is going to get me and mine where we want to be, but that is just fine with me.  "The longer I live the more I believe you do have to give if you wanna receive..." ~John Michael Montgomery, Life's A Dance.

The Star has graced my Daily Draws for the week with her gentle presence and sweet, light pressure to keep on going, to never give up faith, to never feel alone, and for that I am grateful.






This card is from the Tarot of Durer by Lo Scarabeo.

The Star (full frontal nudity)

So I have discovered that when my life is in the toilet, I don't like to post.  I don't want to inflict it upon y'all.  And my life has been in the toilet.  So no posting.  But I have taken Dr. Phil's advice and pulled myself up by my bootstrap.  Son.  Or am faking it til I make it.  Or something.  Definitely something.

This lady has been stalking me lately, but you won't hear any complaints from me.  Not just because she is stunning, either.

The universal symbol of hope, The Star is.  "Starlight, star-bright, first star I see tonight..."  We all know that childhood rhyme, like a mantra or a prayer when the first star would peek through the twilight curtain.

She offers healing, too, this goddess come to earth during the magic time when the veil between the worlds is thin.  Healing that I drink up like a desert flower parched for moisture.





This card is from the Druidcraft Tarot.