The Tarot - More than pretty pictures
There was a time when I would take it personally when people would laugh and snicker at the mere mention of the Tarot. I would like to say that I have matured and gained understanding of my fellow man, but to my dismay I can only say that I have been able to hide those feelings, because as a rule people tend to fear and make light of what they do not understand.
I have always enjoyed using the Tarot but felt something was missing. When ever I would try and put my own spin on the cards I was always told that I could not change what already is accepted as a true meaning. I would like to go on record here and now that, that is a false statement.
Do you remember when you were young and would sit in the doctors office waiting your turn pretending to read the kid's books set on the table to distract you? There would always be a couple of pages with a big picture on it and you had to try and find how many things you can find hidden in the art work. All you had to do was go down the list of items and locate each one.
The Tarot is like that with one difference. True the card have their basic meaning but sometimes not everything on the card pertains to the reading at hand. This is why you must do the reading only with what you see on each card at the time and be aware of what you don't . I know that everyone says that the meaning of a card will only change one way or another if the card is right side up or up side down. Don't you believe it.
Last year I went to visit some friends in Washington D. C.. I had the great fortune of visiting the Library of Congress. I wanted to go there to look up a certain form of research that always seemed to be out of reach and this was my last resort. One of my friends suggested we take the guided tour of the lobby. I only agreed to humor him since he was willing to go through the motions of helping me look for my long lost bit of information and was bored out of his mind.
Our guide took us to the center of the lobby and asked us to look up. There we saw murals spanning form one side of the room to the other. As he stood there quietly so we could gasp in wonderment I could not help but think that they looked like Tarot cards. I started to get lost in a mired of thoughts and images when our guide broke the silence with his well versed speech. I am sure there was a time he was able to tell his tale with meaning and finesse but now we just got the speech by rote as he turned side to side with his head bobbing up and down and side to side. Normally this alone would be enough for me to tune him out and go back to my own thoughts but his words were hitting cords in my brain like a pipe organ. He explained how as you scan each picture from one end of the hall to the other you will see the rise of truth and justice on one end and how our world would be should it fail on the other with corruption and deceit.
I had a million question now to ask our guide. I had this great need to pump him for every bit of information he could tell me of the information on these walls. His speech though well rehearsed was not set up for real questions until the end of the tour. Biting my lips with sweat pouring I waited for Q&A time like a good little tourist. When my big chance came I was rewarded with a blank stare and big smile that more information could be found in the books at their gift shop.
The Ivy League Schools represent established traditions of knowledge wealth and power. How can I say this, because that is what every one thinks of at the mere mention of Ivy League Schools. This is where the Victorians confuse reality and the way things are in real life. Ivy is a vine very fast growing, that when covered can make a building look as if it has been around since the dawn of time. Now this is not a history lesson per say but I & V put together is IV which stands for four in Roman Numerals which was how our not so fore fathers referred to the four Colleges Harvard founded in 1636, Princeton founded in 1696, Yale founded in 1701 and University of Pennsylvania founded in 1749.
This is very important to know because Ivy on a card represents that of which needs help or protection. But to me depending on how much ivy I see on the card will tell me how far back in the past the reading reveals or how far in the future I am looking. Why? Because in my life time when I see ivy on a building that is what I have been conditioned to think. Rather than fight that conditioning I go with it because to me it makes sense. It is not my intention to rock the psychic world in fact just the opposite. Now more than ever it is important to note that the reading of Tarot cards is an interpretive mix of the readers intuitive in sight and psychic link with the cards themselves. When you are first learning how to read your newly purchased Tarot cards go a head and read the book but do not make it your bible.
