Tarot

The first time I played with a deck of tarot cards, I was fascinated. I played and played. One day, I asked a question of the cards and I got an answer. But....I did not like the answer. So I asked the same question again, and shuffled the deck for about 5 minutes, constantly shuffling, and I laid out the cards. I got the SAME cards in the same position. Like deja 'vu weird. Like Twillight Zone weird with the music thing, weird. And? It fecking FREAKED me out, like the cards were evil or something.
(I know, I know, not very open minded...but you had to be there...)
So the young, immature me put her cards away and swore off them and did not touch them again for about 10 years.
However, the Universe had different plans for me.
I was drawn back to the cards again and  bravely started to research and study them. I found a way to listen to them and to talk to them. When analyzing my earlier tumult, I realized that if you ask a question, but do nothing different, you will get the same answer...because...nothing has changed.
Yup.
Just as simple as that and no bad juju needs to be invented for it. I learned that you have to leave your dogma at home chained to the yard. It doesn't walk with the cards, but you CAN understand it all better from a distance with the cards as clues.

The magickal thing about Tarot is that is IS an ancient card "game" brought forward in time.
Originally, it was used by royalty for an entertainment during the High Middle ages to the Renaissance. Over time, the uncanny way the cards were imbued with meaning, have made the deck into a famous tool for divining.

For those of you that don't know, a tarot deck (pronounced "tear-o") is 78 cards altogether.
There are 21 trump face cards, a fool (0) and 4 suits of cards.
The suits include a King/Queen/Knight (Jack), sometimes a Page and cards 1-10.

The trump face cards and the fool card (jester), over the years, have been separated off from the main deck, leaving the suits cards, which have evolved into our current playing deck.

There are 2 divisions of the Tarot deck. The Major and Minor Arcana.

The Major Arcana consists of these following cards:
(0) The Fool
(1) The Magician
(2) The High Priestess
(3) The Empress
(4) The Emporer
(5) The Hierophant
(6) The Lovers
(7) The Chariot
(8) Strength
(9) The Hermit
(10) The Wheel of Fortune
(11)Justice
(12) The Hanged Man
(13) Death
(14) Temperance
(15) The Devil
(16) The Tower
(17) The Star
(18) The Moon
(19) The Sun
(20) Judgement
(21) The World

Basically each of the suits in a tarot deck rule over different areas of life.  They are:
Cups = Hearts / Rule over Love, Friendships & Relationships
Wands = Clubs/ Rule over work
Pentacles or Coins = Diamonds/ Rule over money issues
Swords = Spades/ Rule over strategies

Some decks can be very beautiful. I have a deck called "The Love Tarot" which is made up of beautiful Renaissance type paintings collaged into making each symbolic card.

There are many kinds of ways to use Tarot....
You can pull a single card as a Daily Oracle for the day.
You can do different kinds of layouts:
Past/Present/Future
Celtic Cross Readings
Circular/Month to Year Readings
Triangular readings with 2 different outcomes depending on the path taken.

Tarot readers all have their own way of reading for themselves and others.
Some use "Leaper" cards, some do not. (Leapers are the cards that do just that, and "leap" or fall out from the deck while shuffling).  I do use leapers. I feel they "need to be read" and present themselves thusly.

Some card readers let the participant touch their deck, others do not.

There are certain meaning assigned to each card, and the card has different meaning depending on if it is laid down upright, upside-down (reversed) or sideways in a "blocked" position.

There are no "bad" cards. Sometimes novices or the newcomer are freaked out by the "Death" card or the "Devil" card. But really, those cards have meanings not always assigned to the stereotypical definition on first glance. For instance, the Death card does not necessarily mean "death"...although it can. Mostly it refers to a transformation...like the end of one thing is the beginning of another, sort of reasoning. Once you inform your wide eyed participant of this new idea, they can feel less afraid of the cards and more open minded to the actual message of their reading.

As I said earlier, all readers have their own way of reading their cards. I, personally, only use the Major Arcana when doing my readings. (So, basically, I can say, with a straight face that "I don't play with a full deck" :). Some readers are shocked by this. No matter. It works very well for me, and it's my way.
I enjoy the Major Arcana and they speak to me very clearly.

I also have developed layouts that include extra decks and mix in Angel cards, Goddess cards and Vibes cards with my readings that I give to others.

My personal philosophy on reading cards for others, is that when I am with them, I call on the Universe to flow through me and to give advice for their "Greatest & Highest Good." I consider my reading time with them as "Poor Man's Counseling" and I endeavor to be kind, forthwith, candid, and sensitive. I also use humor to put people at ease. My personal reading style is to give the participant the cards to think of a particular question in their mind while they shuffle and mix the cards. This imparts their energy to the deck. Then I take and hold and fan out the cards and have the participant pick whatever card they fancy. I show them where to place it. Then I read the cards that they have picked. This is my way and as I said, it works for me and my clients. Other readers do things differently from reader to reader. And that is ok too.

Whatever works.

I find that there IS magick in the cards, but mostly it is having a knowledge for the meaning for what each card means, the intuition of the reader, and having a rapport with the participant and listening to what they say and don't say that is of key importance. Yes, you go out on a limb sometimes when you do this.

But that is where the fruit is available to be picked.

Tarot is just one more way for me to relate and help and advise folks that I am called to help for their greater and highest good.

I have been reading cards for others for 16 years now.

I feel that I have really helped them.
I know I am only a conduit for the Universe.
And that is a great and fabulous honor to me.

So, in conclusion, Tarot is a wonderful tool.
Don't be afraid of the cards

Sometimes it is only Your Own Power you fear.
Don't be afraid.
Instead....
Share it- for the Universe's Greatest and Highest Good.

Cartomancy (Card Divination)

 (Plainly speaking, Cartomancy is a fancy word for Card Divination
or "Reading Cards".

I'm a card reader.
I've read cards for many years.
But unlike most Tarot card readers...
"I don't play with a full deck".

 Yah, ok, that's my joke.... and it makes you feel at ease when you sit down for a reading with me, but it's really the TRUTH.
You see....
I read only the Major Arcana.

The face cards are my BUDS.
Very powerful and they cut to the point....or the "crux o' the biscuit" :)

This is the way I learned and it works for me. Others may read all the cards, and that is awesome. But so is this way. I have found a lot of Magick works for different people in different
ways...
This is just "Merlyn's Way" :)

Card readings have a long history, and the current playing deck of cards have come from it.
Coins=Diamonds
Cups=Hearts
Swords=Spades
Wands=Clubs

Kings, Queens, Knights all have their places here

 Pages have been dropped off the playing card deck in recent history...

But the Jester, of course, will always play the part of the Fool :)

While there may be certain meanings for cards (Upright/Reversed/Blocked) and there are certain layouts to do cards, every card reader has their own "style" of reading.

I will share with you my Style and Approach for reading.

First off..
I personally, have dedicated decks for doing festivals and faires. I offer my potential client the opportunity to
pick from an assortment of decks laid out, usually with some familiar card like the Wheel of Fortune

 or the Empress out for them to see....to pick their deck of choice...

and I let them choose the deck they most feel like consulting.

I encourage them to shuffle and think of a "Question to Ask the Cards". This helps them FOCUS and imprint their thoughts, desires on the moment and their needs.
Then when they are "shuffled enough" or "Done" I accept the cards back from the Questioner and I fan out my cards and offer them to "Pick" after we have decided which layout to do.

Then I read "the answer that they pick".

I can offer a Single card ...
3 Card (Past/Present /Future) reading,
Basic Four (Past /Present/Future/Blockage),
a "Mystic 7 Card Reading"
and a "Complete" reading (10 cards).

I also have started adding in EXTRA cards:
Angel Cards

 or Goddess Cards

 to give some extra input to the person to help them.

I am committed to helping people.

As I wait for them to shuffle and think, I hold a crystal or gem-that has called to me from my pile of stones- and I pray for Guidance & Clarity by holding this thought:
"Let me help them for their Greatest and Highest Good".

A lot of people are scared when they see the Devil card or the Death card.
I teach them that the meanings are certain things....not necessarily what they have been stereotyped to think they are.

The Devil card can mean many things: Sex/Power/Lust/Greed/Illusion...

The Death card means Transformation/Beginnings/Ends/New ways of sexuality.

The Lovers card can sometimes mean Choice and following your HEART and not your head.

I like to tell them that the Hanged Man card is sort of like the Tarot equivalent to emotional or event Constipation... it makes them laugh...
"See? He's OK...he's just STUCK...he isn't going anywhere right now"...
(Sometimes just like we are at certain points of our lives. It makes sense to them.)

 When someone new comes to me for a reading, I like to put them at ease, love them, teach them, help them.
Make them laugh. Enjoy the process. Enjoy the fun and the Magick!

My view with all this, is that my job is to be a "Poor Man's Counselor".
There is worth and dignity in that.

Remember that sometimes this is as close as this person may ever come to real counseling or help with this problem.

I want the person to leave my booth with a lifted attitude that they can change their stars, remove blockages and find a better way through their problems. To find HOPE in their situation. That they can turn their blockages (once they know what they are) and to alter their destiny when they alter their attitude.

Cards....
and a loving disposition....
can be a HUGE help to people in this way.

Have Fun!