Stimulating the Subconscious

Tarot of the Witches

Hannah and I have been exploring tarot.  We've always been interested in it as an art form as well as for divination.  The thing about tarot that I love the most is that it is basically a 78 card deck of therapy.  It all comes from interpretation, perspective, and an understanding of archetype.  And it's all about the subconscious.  It's a beautiful way to examine yourself and others and it's private while being public, simple while being faceted, and can leave lasting impressions despite its ephemeral nature.  Last week, Hannah, a friend, and I attended a tarot card 101 class with the Inland Northwest Pagan Guild.  The woman who led the class was very personable and knowledgeable and let us look at many different decks and spreads.  

Shadowscapes Tarot

One of the sample decks that I kind of fell in love with was the Shadowscapes Deck by artist Stephanie Pui-Mun Law.  We purchased it today at Hastings and I'm already enamored with it.  That makes three decks between us: The Tarot of the Witches, The Stone Tarot, and Shadowscapes Tarot.

The Stone Tarot

Today I did a small self reading.  I know that some people don't do self readings, but, for practice purposes and also because I am at such a strange place emotionally, I felt moved to go ahead with a basic nine card spread for past, present, and future.  I used my friend's Mystic Faerie Tarot Deck and drew the Nine of Swords (inverted), Seven of Wands (inverted), and Three of Swords (inverted) for my past.  Interestingly enough, the suit I seem to get the most in any reading so far has been swords.  The meaning of all three together was that I've made a compromise and felt a great loss in it, but the world isn't going to end, my worry and grief will not consume me.  For my present I drew: the King of Swords (upright), the Ace of Wands (inverted), and the Six of Pentacles (inverted).  These cards all spoke of need.  I have huge intellectual needs as well as lesser obvious emotional needs, and I need someone to help me understand it all, and I desperately need something new.  Honestly tarot may just be that something new.  For the future, my cards were the Knight of Pentacles (upright), the Four of Pentacles (upright), and the Priest (upright).  I found it rather fitting that my past cards were all inverted while my future cards were all upright.  My future, according to the cards, must needs be one of discipline and ritual in vocation, education, and spirituality.  I may need a teacher for these things and may become the teacher myself, but, in the end, through my patient devotion to beauty and serious devotion to others, I will reap the benefits of my work.

The Mystic Faerie Tarot