Last week, I started on the path of learning Tarot. It sounds really simple, doesn’t it? And yet, the more I tried to adopt ‘traditional’ methods (because I thought it was the right way to proceed), the more I found myself bogged down in someone else’s understanding, someone else’s way of assimilating the information. I’ve always done this… (no, not being bogged down) trying ‘traditional’ methods in the hope that they will ‘speak’ to me in an intuitive way and that there is scope and room for someone with ‘different’ thoughts and methods to adopt and use what is on offer. Now, I’m not saying traditional ways don’t work and aren’t good to use. I’m saying that, regardless of how hard I try to fit within the confines and structures of ‘traditional’ and accepted ways, the more I find myself becoming impatient, frustrated and stymied in the narrowness of it all. To me, it’s liked being in a tunnel that gets smaller and smaller and all i want to do is escape the confines and rise above it all. So, I go pathfinding.
With that in mind, one of the things that helps me ‘see’ what I need to see is by using the cards to answer relevant questions. What will my day bring: morning, afternoon and evening? is one of those which I adopt and from which I fashion a story. I have used that many times over the last week and it helps me not only focus on each card but how they come together. I am examining different spreads to see how they work, to put together a story from each one and to see how I can use them in the future. It is not necessarily the traditional way to proceed but I am learning more that way than step-by-step. Yes, I still consult texts and still learn those things that are more general knowledge because I am interested to learn just how far afield I am wandering,if at all. I am still learning about the peripheral yet central ideas behind the Tarot including numerology, astrology, colour, symbology, alchemy, etc. because I find that these inform what I see and add texture and flavour to the story. I am beginning to really love the width, breadth, the depth and the height of Tarot! It’s truly phenomenal!
With that… I will do today a 1-card draw. ‘What will my day bring?’ The card I draw for today is The Devil XV, reversed. I am using the Thoth Tarot illustrated by Lady Frieda Harris.
This card suggests to me halves and duplication. It would appear that the spheres at the top (bottom) of the card are undergoing mitoses, while the rod in the centre separates them into halves. The spiraling horns suggest that wonderful replicating double helix. The two large spheres appear to be ‘eyes’ that see everything, our deeds and our misdeeds and how we manifest what we create, both sides, the good and the not so good. It is male and female, two halves of a whole. It is unity and division. It is Capricorn and Mars and Saturn. The numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 are all represented here. It is the Behedeti, the winged sun disk with serpents. It is the three-eyed goat. It is yellow, pink, blue, black, orange, brown, red and gold. It is spiral and spheres, rod and phallus, rings and flowers. It is unity penetrating creation. It is spirituality, rebirth and enlightenment as we journey from inward to outward and back again.
This is an excellent card for today. I am returning to my intuition and working from a deeper level to give new birth to my creativity and my spirituality. This is the beginning of a new way and the ending of a more traditional view. This is a very positive card for going forward. Fabulous!
More tomorrow… until then, Light, love and blessings!
So here, I will try to cover symbolism. It is not a small topic in the Thoth Tarot.
Journey Through Tarot 