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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.

My son's father passed due to cancer. A few days after his death, he came into my dream. I was so happy to see him that I gave him a big hug. I do not remember him talking. He stayed there with me for few seconds and then walked away and disappeared. He was carrying something with him but I don't remember what. My son had the exact same dream. He was socializing with his father and then all of sudden, he left. My son awoke crying. I would like to dream of him again; can you help?

Lucia

Susyn:

It is not uncommon for someone who has passed to make contact with their loved ones for a few days afterward. Typically, the living can see, feel and hear them either in their dreams or in an awake state. This usually continues until the time of the memorial service.

After that, there is typically a six to eight-week period of limbo wherein the living can't seem to feel their presence or connect with them. This seems to be a transition period when both the living and the person who has passed are adjusting to the shock of the changes that have occurred.

After that, the spirit's presence may again be sensed. You mention that your son's father came to both you and your son a few days after his passing, and now you would like to connect with him again. If the six to eight week period has passed, there are some things you can do to attract more experiences with him.

You don't mention your sonís age, but if he is old enough, you may want to include him in these rituals. Typically, the younger a child is, the more in tune they will be with the spirit world. If your son is old enough to process, remember and describe his dreams, the two of you may benefit from trying to connect with his father together.

Start by setting up a special place like an altar where you can meditate and connect with your sonís father. You can place a picture of him and some of his personal possessions or objects that he liked in this space. Place two white candles on the altar. If you wish, you can also put some incense on it.

Pick a special time each day to sit at the altar. During this time, you can meditate on your departed loved one and then sit quietly and wait for messages from him. During this time, you can also ask him to come to you in your dreams or present any questions you may have for him.

It may take three or four sittings before you begin to sense his presence. Remember that the more you practice this ritual, the clearer his messages will become.

You can also try to program your dreams. To do this, make a request each night before you go to bed, asking that you be open enough to connect with your sonís father in your dreams. Your son can do the same.

Keep in mind as you perform these rituals that spirits can come to us in a variety of ways. You may experience certain smells that are connected with him that seem to come out of nowhere or turn on the radio or television and hear or see one of his favorite songs or shows. These are signs that he is near and sending you a message that he is okay.

*****

Mata:

I'm so sorry for your loss. I do want to reassure you that regular contact with a departed loved one is not only possible, it's fairly common. I know of a number of people who regularly enjoy dream visits with someone they love who has left this world. Others sense the presence of their loved one around them and carry on telepathic conversations with them. Still others have mastered the art of astral projection and regularly travel beyond the physical to interact with the departed.

I enjoy regular dream visits with my own deceased father, but I do need to note that I can't always control when this happens. It's a bit like calling someone on the phone; sometimes they are available to talk, and sometimes they aren't. There are things you can do that will help you to have many more visits with your departed husband, however.

The main thing is to spend a lot of time in an altered state of consciousness. Unfortunately, given the demands of daily life, for many people this is simply impractical. As a newly single mother of a young son, finding time for this may be your greatest challenge.

I think the most powerful thing you could do is begin to attempt to master astral projection, for even if you don't get out of your body, if you are able to get into the deep trance state essential to this practice, you will be in the ideal state for interacting with your son's father.

Basically, you want your body to be soundly asleep but your mind to be awake. This is not as easy as it may sound. The easiest way to get into this state is to essentially overindulge in sleep. One trick is to set your alarm for a couple of hours before you actually have to get up and allow yourself to hit the snooze button over and over again.

Most people find it is best if they have already had a full night's sleep before they begin this snooze and wake cycle; some find that it is easier for them to keep falling back into dreams if they are still somewhat tired. You'll have to experiment to find what works best for you.

It is also powerful to pray with all of your heart for the dream visits you desire, and to work with the law of attraction to manifest them. You could also sleep with something of your husband's such as his shirt. (If it still smells of him, all the better.) Every time you awaken, think of him and hold that object close as you drift back off to sleep.

If you make the time for this practice, I am confident that you will soon be having all sorts of interaction with your son's father.

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.