Copyright © 2012 Gray Seal
If you have just bought a new set:
Eagerly you open the packaging and investigate your pack of cards, sifting through them quickly, impatient to see what you have purchased. Oh you can’t wait to ‘give them a go’, and see if they ‘work’. Shame that it is not possible to also buy a huge pile of patience at the same time as you bought your cards, because this you are going to need in quantity!
But if you rush your fences you will crash:
In other words, if you hurry with trying to ‘read’ the cards you will be disappointed and quickly lose interest in your tarot project. Into the cupboard they will go, there to gather dust and be forgotten, which is a shame. By not being patient with the ‘getting to know your tarot cards’ process you will be losing out on all the possibilities that are ahead, but only if you can manage to contain your impatience!
However, it is likely that your curiosity will get the better of you and you won’t be able to resist seeing what happens if you have a go at giving yourself a quick ‘reading’, but be careful about what you think comes back via the card.
It is likely that you will work with them using the Traditional Way, which is by using a layout spread and looking up the meanings of the cards from a book. This can be an arduous process, and also prone to inaccuracies. I will explain more about this later. But I would advise you to get your cards harmonized quickly, and there are instructions as to how to do this over the page. If you put off doing this, then you might become bored with the whole tarot project.
If you already have a set of tarot cards:
Now where you have been keeping them? Stashed away somewhere? Had a go at ‘reading’ them and got fed up, because understanding them took too much mental effort? And so you put them away, your original enthusiasm for investigating the tarot having died.
But hey! You must still be interested in the tarot because you are reading this book! Good for you! You have had a go at the Traditional Way now all you have to do is persevere with learning the Intuitive Way, which incidentally should be easier as you get used to the various steps of learning. If you manage to persevere with this then a whole new world will open up to you: keep on reading.
So don’t be downhearted if your already acquired set of tarot cards are no-go for you at the moment. They just need waking up, and you get them to do this by waking up your intuition. This means using them in a different way to that which you did before you lost interest and put them away.
Find patience from somewhere:
To get the best from yourself and your tarot cards, as I have said already, you need to find some patience.
Think of yourself as a tarot athlete! First of all, like an athlete does, you have to ‘warm up’, then you have to start training and practicing, practicing and training, training and practicing, until the required skill levels are reached. This takes effort. There is no ‘quick fix’. But you can practice and train! And the more you do, the faster success will come.
So you have your cards, and now you need to go on to the next step in the process of intuitive tarot work, which is building a positive energy around them. What you are actually doing is building a bond between them and you, so that every time you pick them up they will have a ‘feel good’ feeling about them.
“Crikey”, you might be saying, “They are only a load of printed cards, so why do I have to make all this effort!” But if you treat them like bits of ‘printed card’, then you will never be intuitively successful with them, and you may as well give up with your reading of this book. If you like and respect an object then you will build an aura of positive energy around that object, and it will feel ‘warm’, as if it has an inner life, and the same goes for your tarot cards.
But if you treat your cards without respect, and that ‘warmth’ is not built up, then you will find it difficult to work with your cards intuitively. Therefore spending time getting to know them is a must, and here is how you do that:
Harmonizing your cards:
There are two ways to do this: the Sunshine Blessing or the Candle Blessing. It is your choice as to which blessing you choose, but the Candle Blessing is probably the better option if the weather is not too helpful and the sun is refusing to shine.
The Sunshine Blessing:
You will need about half an hour plus a sunny day. Best to go outside as well. Doing this in front of a window is only making a half-hearted effort!
You will also need a quiet corner where you will not be disturbed.
1) Outside you go, with your tarot cards:
The sun is shining, you find a quiet place, and you stop for a moment and think about what you are going to do. At the moment it might sound a bit on the weird side to do this, but trust me: you will eventually understand why I ask you to do this, although it might take lots of practice before you do.
2) Bringing them into the light:
Remove your tarot cards from their container, packaging, or box, and hold them in your hands with the backs of the cards uppermost.
3) The sun shines on their faces:
Turn the first card over, so its face is open to the sunshine. Hold this position for a few minutes while you look at the card and absorb its graphics, watching as the sun bathes it in light. Do not try to ‘read’ the card, which might be a temptation if you have had the pack for some time and have already tried to work with them by the Traditional Way of tarot card work. You need to concentrate on what the card looks like, not what you think it is saying. For a new pack this should be easier because you will be less familiar with them. Now gently turn the card back over, so it is face down again, and put it at the bottom of the pack.
Then from the top of the pack, turn the next card over and do the same as you did for the first one.
Repeat your way through all the cards, giving the same amount of time to each. Be careful not to let your focus and concentration slip. After all, you have a lot of cards to work through. But it’s a nice day, so enjoy the experience and don’t hurry to get the blessing your cards over and done with too fast.
Why do all this?
…..because not only does it starts getting you in touch with each card, but it is also a way of showing respect to them. In time this will create a bond of positive energy between you and your cards. Bringing the warmth of the sun onto each card also acts as a blessing from the Universe.
4) The final blessing of the cards:
Hold your tarot set, still face down but all together, in both hands with palms open, letting the sun continue to warm the cards.
Now ask a blessing for them along the lines of: “I ask a blessing on these cards, that they may inspire my intuitive self.” You don’t have to use these words exactly, but you do need to ask for the blessing. You don’t have to repeat exactly what I have suggested, but whatever you say, make the words come from heart and don’t rattle the words off as a necessary chore.
Now you are done, and can put your cards back in the box or carrying container you were keeping them in. And why don’t you linger for a few moments longer and enjoy the sunshine! You deserve it!
You can use content blocks to arrange your articles, large texts, instructions. Combine these blocks with media blocks to add illustrations and video tutorials. You can use various content blocks to work with your text. Add quotations, lists, buttons. Select your text to change its formatting or add links. Mobirise is a simple website builder that helps you create amazing web pages without knowing any code.
This book shows how the ancient runic alphabet of the Celts and Vikings, when inscribed in bone, wood, or stone, can be used to enlighten all areas of one's life.
Runes: A Beginner's Guide (Headway Guides for Beginners) by Kristyna Arcarti.
AI Website Builder