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The Spirit of Tarot, by Kristoffer Hughes

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

Materially and superficially, the Tarot appear as a set of images printed with ink onto slightly stiffened paper or card; to all sense and purposes, they appear as simple pieces of art. However, the Tarot is significantly more than just pretty pictures; they are a treasure house of images that express a profound connection to a mystery school that was centuries in the making. Elements hid within the Tarot reflect a truth that was old when the world was new. The school of Tarot emerged from an Occulture that was intent on creating a tool that would transform the lives and spiritual wellbeing of its users. They succeeded.

As a fledgling Tarot reader, I often felt out of my depth, isolated from my teachers or those who inspired me. Cut off from the guide books and the information therein that, my fallible memory failed to recall clearly and succinctly. With the eyes of the Querent upon me, I cannot begin to tell you how often my breath would catch in my chest, as pearls of sweat broke out on my forehead to glisten and betray my lack of confidence. Thankfully, most querents were patient and willing to allow a young person to simply have a go, and I am grateful to them for their tenacity and encouragement during my studies. And yet, I often felt so alone in my quest to understand and move into deep relationship with the cards.

That is, until one fateful day when I was to meet the most influential person in my magical life. Her name was Myfanwy Davies, and she hailed from the green valleys of South Wales. For decades she had resided in the North Wales coastal town of Rhyl. She was profoundly crippled by consequence of a road traffic accident; she wore glasses as thick as milk bottle bottles, and I would jest that she could still see Haley's Comet through them things. Short in stature yet huge in heart and magic, she told of me something inherent within the Tarot that I had yet to consider or contemplate—the Spirit within the Tarot.

Aleister Crowley explored this spiritual principle hid within the Tarot in his seminal work The Book of Thoth. In it he discusses the animistic principle held within the cards and stated that the cards themselves are living beings. They appear on the surface of to the untrained eye as inert and stationary and yet they crackle with a life-force and a vitality that is accessible to any student or adept of the Tarot. It was of this that my teacher Myfanwy referred to and then encouraged me to expand on that thought and explore the nature of the Tarot as a landscape of living, spiritual entities. My relationship with the cards were never to be the same again.

It is easy for us to consider that the nature of consciousness only applies to that which we consider as kin or near-kin, fellow humans, our pets, other animals, trees and rocks. We can identify the consciousness in others because we may share a similarity of awareness. We may not immediately consider this when we look at a deck of cards, and yet we would be foolhardy—as students of the occult sciences—to dismiss that the cards themselves reflect a consciousness. As I learnt that day, all of those years ago, as the western winds brought hailstones to beat at Myfanwy's windows: the Tarot are pictorial representations of the natural forces of the universe, and they contain within them the very principle of existence and all of its glorious expressions.

Tarot functions through the occult hypothesis that consciousness is not local, and it is not confined to specific points in space, or places like our brains. But in turn, our brains coalesce that consciousness, like a receiver, into a moment in time, and like the opening of a book and the turning of its pages, consciousness reveals itself in the here and now. This is precisely what the Tarot does: it opens the book of consciousness and coalesces material and information relevant to a precise moment in time (the reading), and reveals it.

It is able to do this because of the immense psychic energy that went into its creation.

In truth, each time you take to your decks, you are accessing a storehouse of wisdom that is more than the sum totality of its creators. For instance, if your deck is one inspired by the Rider-Waite-Smith system, a plethora of energies and influences went into the making of that tradition. From the Kabbala to the complexities and magical endeavours of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, to the profoundly powerful images of Pamela Colman-Smith, to every student and reader of that particular system. All have fed and nurtured a mystery school that is complete in 78 branches of wisdom. This magical heritage gave breath and life to the thought-forms that would eventually rise as living beings in their own right, as the spirit within the Tarot.

If your deck is inspired by the Rider-Waite-Smith system but has another overlay, take for instance my own Celtic Tarot. I have retained the primary symbology and system of the Rider-Waite-Smith but overlaid it with the magic of Celtic mythology. This adds another spiritual dimension to the cards; it does not detract from what is already present in the symbols themselves. By proxy of this, using a modern deck connects you to its creator and artist and the spiritual work that was necessary for them to perform to bring their decks into being.

Tarot is revealed to both reader and querent simultaneously, as each card is turned the spirit within that card sings of its heritage and the connection it has to all that has gone before it. The reader interprets the meaning of the card based on its position or value within a spread, and reveals this vocally to the querent. The most effective of readers are those who can sense and work with the spirits that inhabit their decks.

With this in mind, when one takes to a deck, one is in actuality never alone, for the spiritual beings that inhabit the Tarot are your constant guides to their revelation and inspiration. I sit here now, on a night not dissimilar to that which I enjoyed decades ago, the winds blow and hailstones stammer at my window demanding attention. But in my office, I am not alone, I have a number of decks, too many to admit to, and I sense their companionship. For within these decks are the wonders of the universe and of all life and living, of things seen and unseen and things betwixt and between sense and sensibility. In them are the efforts of occultists and artists and magicians long since dead, the mighty ones of the Tarot. It is the company of Tarot that I share this space with, and the comfort and stability that they offer my adventures into the magical world of Tarot.

Next time I will share some of my techniques for accessing the spirit within the Tarot.

Until then, fare thee well, and keep reading.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2021. All rights reserved.

I am currently married but I have had a certain guy on my mind for almost a year now. He is also married. We haven't spoken in 14 years, but recently we started emailing. I have had ringing in my ears and chest pain throughout the past year, ever since we reconnected. (My doctor cleared me of any health problems.) I feel such a strong pull towards him; I feel that my life is shifting towards him. We were attracted to each other in college but never dated. I feel that our time is coming when we are supposed to be together. Am I crazy that my feelings are this strong with someone I haven't seen or talked to in 14 years? Thank you!

Traci

Astrea:

No, you're not crazy. Many people experience what you're going through when they are bored with their spouses. Instead of meeting a stranger online or via a dating service, they often turn to someone they knew before they were married.

If the other person is also married, it's safer that way for the couple involved. It might amaze you to discover how many people rekindle romances after college or high school reunions only to discover that the attraction was only in their minds because they were unhappy or dissatisfied with their current partners and situations.

Since you knew this guy in college, you already know a good bit about him. You don't have to worry that he'll do anything crazy, like show up on your doorstep and ask you to run away with him.

Since he's also married, it may be that he's also bored and feels safe talking to you. It's exciting and forbidden, and you can scare yourselves with the possibility that you could be together someday. It's natural for friends who are attracted to each other to take their relationship to some kind of romantic level whether in reality or fantasy.

Also, since both of you are already in what seem to be committed relationships (at least on the surface), there won't be a whole lot of pressure to come through on any promises.

Try not to get your heart broken. Men and women are very different when it comes to things like this. I've done countless readings for women who say they feel a deep connection with a fellow who is only doing something for fun. Remember that you have not known this man on any kind of intimate level, and that he could just be playing around and unaware of how much you're investing in the relationship. Disaster lurks here!

There is also the problem of getting caught. Do you really feel your husband would be totally forgiving if he read those emails? Leos are notoriously careless when it comes to covering up. Beware of hurting someone who used to be the most important person on Earth to you.

If you value your relationship with your own husband, I urge you to be very careful about what you're risking. Perhaps the two of you could go to a counselor to try to rekindle your feelings for each other, or maybe it's time to get a divorce and move on. Either way, you owe it to yourselves to explore that possibility with someone who can help.

Don't throw away what you have for what you feel is destiny. It's not - it's wishful thinking. I don't have to tell you that you get carried away at times, Leo. Don't paint yourself into a corner from which you can't escape.

*****

Susyn:

What you're experiencing now - as you did in college - is a powerful past life karmic connection with David. However, you have to be very careful about trying to determine what this connection is, along with its spiritual importance and higher purpose in your life.

If you are soul mates destined to be together in this lifetime, there is no way of stopping it or speeding it up. Universal timing is an interesting thing, as its main purpose is to protect us from experiencing things before we are ready.

The time period between your connection in college and your reconnection now has no doubt been filled with many lessons, karmic experiences and personal growth. This will ensure the best possible outcome for any given situation whether a life partnership with him is in your future or not.

The physical pains you've been experiencing are also an aspect of your past life together. They may stem from painful experiences you had in that past life, or mirror pains that you experienced at that time when these symptoms represented something threatening your health.

One way to gain some clarity about this relationship is to go within and begin examining your feelings. If you are unhappy in your life or marriage, this could be a wonderful distraction. This is an indicator that you have work of your own left to do, so you must aim for greater spiritual growth and wholeness before taking any actions or moving on any feelings that will most certainly affect the other people in your life and his.

I had a similar experience when I encountered a high school sweetheart many years later. The connection and chemistry were so intense and overwhelming that I also wondered if we were destined to reunite.

However, by standing still, paying attention and not moving in any direction beyond email, I soon realized that this was a gift for me, and was designed to bring out hidden aspects of myself that had gotten lost or buried over the years. It reconnected me with my youthful spirit while alerting me to the fact that we really had no future together.

It may take more time to determine where things might lead with David, so I encourage you to focus on the gifts and affirmations he is bringing into your life now without pondering the future or letting hopes and expectations rule your thoughts or decisions.

Ask Spirit to increase this connection if that is what is best for you, or to diminish the connection if it is not meant to go further. In that way, you'll either learn some very important things about yourself, or the Universe will continue to open the door wider for this relationship.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.