My goddaughter, Carolyn, expressed an interest in learning what I knew about tarot. She has entered college and, in her quest for higher learning, she wishes to include the esoteric knowledge which is inherent in us all. She began her quest with books on astrology, and tarot had invoked her curiosity. Carolyn’s mother told her she had been at a reading I’d given a friend with an aggressive form of cancer a few years ago and it had been quite powerful. She should talk to me.

When I was in college in California in the Seventies, I’d taken a class on public speaking. It was my junior year, and the university had just opened a new student center. For our final presentation, my group decided upon games, each of the six of us taking a different game to submit to the class within the student union confines. In looking about the game room to see what was available, I spotted a tarot deck. It was a Waite deck, the most widely-used and well known of tarot cards. Included in the box was a tiny orange booklet that gave brief sketches of each card: a tall dark stranger, loss of money, etc. I decided that would be my “game”.

A classmate I’d become friends with (on a superficial basis as it was a commuter college and most of us had jobs and spent little time on campus) sat at my table for a reading. I told her to shuffle the cards, silently asking the question she wanted answered. When it felt “right” she should hand them back to me. When she did so, I laid them out in the Celtic Cross Spread portrayed in the book. By the end of the reading, she was in tears. I felt horrible, not even knowing what her question was! When I asked her, her answer was so conflicted that I realized she was asking polar opposites of the same question within her question. She wanted to leave a job she hated, but was afraid she wouldn’t find another. She was asking if she should or shouldn’t quit. She had secretly married, and was trying to save enough money to leave home and live with her husband! She felt the cards were telling her to stay in her current job.

Intuitively, I told her to reshuffle, this time asking specifically if she should leave her current employment. She did so, reshuffling for a few minutes time, and handed the cards back to me. We were both flabbergasted when the exact same cards came up in the exact same positions, with a few of them having reversed (up or down often means the exact opposite of the same information). This time the reading was emphatic — she should leave that dreaded employment. She quit that day, and had a much more lucrative position by the end of the week. The month following, she informed her parents of her marriage and moved into a small apartment with her husband. I felt the cards had encouraged her to tap into her inner-knowing, as well as allowed her the courage to go forth into what was her right decision.

I bought my own deck of cards and began reading for friends, still using the cryptic little book within the card package for interpretation. My best friend worried about her new marriage and asked for direction. In her reading, it became apparent they would soon face a whole new set of problems — she was pregnant! The cards showed a daughter to be born under the astrological sign eight months hence. Burnardette scoffed, but when she missed her period that week she called me to ask if I really thought it could be true. Danielle was born right on schedule.

In the intervening months between Danielle’s prophesy and birth, I searched for a more meaningful key to unlock the tarot’s knowledge. It was obvious all of the intricate detail of the pictures offered more than a line or two of human knowledge in their symbolism. I finally found a Wiccan Priestess who lived about an hour’s drive from my home. She offered weekly evening classes on tarot.

Kay opened our eyes to the inter-connectedness of life. She would touch a key on her piano, say the note, tell you its color, which star or planet was its rule, and what plants and animals vibrated at that particular energy level. She explained how the Major and Minor Arcana of the tarot represented a direction of knowledge, and how these related to these same energy vibrations. For example:

One of the Major Arcana — The Magician — Ask for Light. I will make a new beginning. Ruled by Mercury. Will or dexterity. Strong, Firm. The perfect man, in possession of all his faculties. Faith in self, guided by love of reason and justice. This sign represents all the tools given man—air, water, etc. It is the infinite mind. Know that you are the most important person in creating your world. The garden above is the universe, below it is creating the same on earth. The table is our earth plans. The right hand is will, aspiring to all. The divining rod is science and wisdom. The snake is infinity. Man has all answers at his fingertips. His right hand shows grace, virtue and light from above. His left hand sends it below to be used—the gift of spirit.

Reversed — difficulty making a new beginning—ego may be involved. Being stubborn, mental disease, disgrace, disquiet.

Each suit deals with a particular issue as well:

Wands—Clubs—Element is Fire, Season is summer. Also called rods or scepters. Deals with: business, plans, thoughts. Represents weeks in the time scale. Also, it can represent enthusiasm, ambition, enterprise, occupation, and honor.

When these, one and wands, are combined it results in the Ace of Wands—I will make a new beginning in business plans or thinking.

Reversed—is difficulty in the above, or a telephone call.

The people cards of the deck represent particular signs.

The depth of knowledge she gave us was immense. My readings took on an other-worldly sense of awareness. I was told that tarot was not a game, it was a portal into our inner-knowing that should be accessed with respect. I learned not to read for my ego (the “Wow, that was amazing!” reaction of others) but only as a means to help people understand their direction and choices. We have free will. However, we have lost our ability to connect with our own intuitive knowing, clouded by lack of practice and the negation of its importance by society. When we ask, “Why are we here? What is the purpose of life?” it is because we sense we are here to accomplish a goal—to create a manifestation of spirit on earth.

Tarot is a lens into spirit.

Tarot led me to other inner paths of understanding. When Lyric was born we had our astrological charts cast, and were amazed to see how exactly they portrayed our personalities and the accomplishments of our lives. From spending time on the sea to my writing, all were all opportunities that had been open to us which we had manifested. Lyric had amazing portends, and there was a warning of her strong sign being in conflict with my own. That insight always niggled the back of my mind when we had an opportunity for disagreement. It allowed me to approach her with a positive, constructive hand instead of the iron fist of “doing it my way.” I credit that knowledge to our conflict-free family life.

Meditation is another bridge to our higher selves. When we reach that place of quiet, we can experience flashes of insight of the true purpose of our lives. Keeping a journal of your meditations and dreams can show a progression in this regard. Dreams can be powerful, but I find them confusing at times. An example of this was a reoccurring dream I had of losing all of my teeth, rapid-fire spitting them from my mouth. It was nonsensical to me, until a friend questioned my intake of calcium. Once I reinstated it in my diet, the dream stopped.

For Christmas, I bought Carolyn her own Waite deck and typed my eighteen pages of Wiccan notes to provide her a guide for her search. In doing so, I hope to have passed the knowledge to another generation, and that she will help others to find their way to the light of their own inner-knowing.

~ Gabrielle M. Thompson, 2007
© 2007 Gabrielle M. Thompson