Tarot Tips: Tarot for Meditation (Part 1)
Published: Thu, 11/01/18
"There is a tradition of using Tarot for a meditative encounter..."
You're receiving this email because you expressed interest in
The Tarot School. PLEASE DON'T MARK IT AS SPAM.
You can unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of this page. If you have
trouble reading this issue of Tarot Tips, you may see it and other back issues
at http://tarotschool.com/Newsletter.html
You're receiving this email because you expressed interest in
The Tarot School. PLEASE DON'T MARK IT AS SPAM.
You can unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of this page. If you have
trouble reading this issue of Tarot Tips, you may see it and other back issues
at http://tarotschool.com/Newsletter.html
![]() Newsletter of The Tarot School
http://TarotSchool.com ISSN: 1529-0565 Vol. 10 #9 / November 1, 2018
In this Issue: - Welcome
- Tarot Tip: Tarot for Meditation (Part 1)
- Tarot School Aphorism
- What's Gnu? - Diviner's Corner: The Light of The Moon - Cool New Event: Rune Wisdom Telesummit (last chance) - Best Practices: Balancing a Small Business and Creative Pursuits - Upcoming Events Welcome to a new issue of Tarot Tips!
And a special welcome to our new subscribers.
![]() The holiday rush is almost upon us. Now is a good time to take a deep breath, center ourselves, and express gratitude for the blessings in our lives. You are one of those blessings for us, and we are grateful for the opportunity to share our tarot journeys with you. In this issue, Carolyn Cushing gives some insight as to how you can use tarot for meditation –– with even more coming next month. The Diviner’s Corner features a look at the moon and The Moon by Pamela Steele, and in Best Practices for Professional Readers, Gina tells of her need to balance life and career, while creating her new deck. There's also an announcement of our exciting new Winter Intensive! Enjoy! And one more thing...
One of the things I love about the tarot community is how supportive we can be of each other's work. Kickstarter has been a wonderful platform for both budding and seasoned deck creators to bring forth their labors of love. I've supported a number of campaigns myself and have always been delighted with the finished projects. I'm thinking of including a crowd-funding section in Tarot Tips to let you know what's out there. If you know of a tarot-related campaign that you feel has merit, drop us an email at [email protected] and I'll check it out. ~ Ruth Ann With love and gratitude on the tarot journey, Ruth Ann, Wald, and Gina
Tarot Tips is here to help you with the practical side
of your Tarot journey. In order to take the greatest
advantage of this newsletter, please send us your
questions regarding any aspect of your tarot study
or practice and we'll do our best to answer them
in an upcoming issue.
Spread the experience of tarot - share this newsletter with other Tarot Enthusiasts! Tarot Tip
TAROT FOR MEDITATION (Part 1)
by Carolyn Cushing, Soul Path Sanctuary encounter with the wisdom figures in its images, though when the cards began serving this purpose is uncertain. One of the oldest, nearly complete Tarot decks from fifteenth century Italy was created for the powerful Visconti-Sforza family as a wedding gift. The hand-painted, gold-leafed cards were preserved because they were too beautiful for frequent use in playing the bridge-like card game that was the Tarot’s first known purpose. At the top of each of these Visconti-Sforza cards there is a ragged little hole punched. We don’t know the reason for this hole, but they inspire me to make a leap of imagination. I think someone – let’s say, Bianca Maria Visconti who married Francesco Sforza in 1441 - yes, Bianca pinned the cards to her wall and meditated upon them. Perhaps to connect with the Christian symbols and stories upon the cards, or to escape from the violence of this time of warring republics through their beauty, or even as a gateway into the more esoteric and mystical wisdom that is rumored to have been taught at the Italian courts of the time. I don’t care so much what she sought, as that she was a seeker in the images of the Tarot. We can imagine her as our ancestor in using the Tarot for meditation and tending the soul. We, too, can pin our cards to the wall metaphorically and surrender to the wisdom of their images through meditative practices. Spiritual and religious traditions offer a multitude of practices that share a similar pattern: Prepare yourself. Focusing on the breath and closing the eyes are simple time-honored steps for stepping away from current demands and entering into a more relaxed, receptive mental state. Cross the threshold. To receive the wisdom from the encounter, you need to make a commitment to do so. It is like knocking on the door and being prepared for someone to answer. As you begin your practice, you might set an intention by articulating what you seek or say a prayer that connects you with the Greater Than by whatever name you use. Accept what you encounter. An important way of honoring the process is to take in whatever comes to you. We often have judgments that we are not doing meditative processes in the right way, and it is true that sometimes what we receive seems odd or is not clear. But this guidance from the wisdom figure on your card is not coming from the rational realm. Take it all in and see what you can decipher in the moment. Then let the more mysterious things rest and rise. Insight might come to you in a dream or from a passage of a book opened at random. Give thanks for what you have received. You’ve just been given a gift, so it is important to acknowledge it with words of thanks. Re-cross the threshold and leave with intention. You need to return to the everyday world with the same level of commitment with which you left it. This allows you to put the insight gained in the imaginal world to use in your daily life. Re-ground yourself in the reality of your body and environment. Encounter processes can leave us dreamy, so plan for time to reconnect with your body and come back to daily consciousness as an important last step of the process. About Carolyn: Carolyn Cushing loves to work with people to make positive life transitions, grow spiritually, and develop creatively. In addition to working one-on-one with seekers, she has taught and facilitated Tarot classes and groups in Western Massachusetts; been a guest teacher at the Northwest Tarot Symposium, HATHOR Forum, and Gaian Tarot Circle; and led meditations and co-created rituals at Readers Studio. Carolyn creates learning environments and circles where deep sharing and exploration are possible. She is a co-founder of the Massachusetts Tarot Society, and contributes a regular column on Tarot for soul practice to the Cartomancer. Find her online at soulpathsanctuary.com Tarot School Aphorism ![]() ![]() TAROT SCHOOL WINTER INTENSIVE! The Lords of Tarot: Esoteric Titles of the Minor Arcana There was such a great response to our recent Tarot Telesummit session on the Esoteric Titles of the Minors that we decided to hold a more in-depth weekend intensive on the subject. Here's a description... ![]() The first and possibly the final question that every student of tarot asks is, “What do the cards mean?” One of the many functions of meaning in tarot is to alter our everyday perceptions and give us options we never knew we had. We might see universes in the cards we never knew existed, and discover powers we never knew we possessed. Then life and understanding on a grander scale become possible. The Esoteric Titles of the cards contain mind-altering perceptions like that. A special weekend intensive on the Esoteric Titles of the Minor Arcana is coming in December 2018. When you see what these titles can show you, the cards will never look the same to you again. It will be an adventure, we promise! Come and join us. Seating is Limited. DATES: Sat/Sun December 8-9, 2018 TIMES: 11am - 7pm both days TUITION: $300 LOCATION: Forest Hills, NY (Directions provided upon registration.) TO REGISTER: Click Here For more information, or if you have any questions, email us at [email protected] or call 800-804-2184 Diviner's Corner THE LIGHT OF THE MOON by Pamela Steele ![]() Image copyright Steele Wizard Tarot (2006) I find it interesting that an oversized piece of rock trapped in orbit by our planet's gravitational pull can have such an impact on our world. Since the beginning of Time mankind has gazed at the heavens and marveled at the austere beauty of our closest celestial neighbor. She (yes, I think of the Moon as 'She') has a deep and profound influence on all things liquid in our lives. From a woman's monthly cycles, to the oceans' tides, to our fluid thoughts, this Heavenly Body governs much more than simple or complex water products and by-products. The phases have a direct impact on our moods and behavior as any law enforcement, hospital or bar tender can tell you. Extra staff and diligence are mandatory under a full moon. Anyone who doesn't believe, simply has to cruise by the hospital emergency room during the event. In tarot, I was originally taught The Moon card represented the Card of the Psychic. One who could 'divine' and intuit events and occurrences with their natural abilities. That was over 4 decades ago, and since then it's come to mean much, much more. I see the Moon as constantly shifting and evolving. Much like the cycles of our lives, it is in constant motion. The Moon has no light source of its own but reflects the Sun's light back to our planet. Where the Sun gives us life, the Moon gives us Dreams. With the Power of the Dreamer, we are able to see beyond ourselves and our perceived limitations in earthly bodies. Each phase of our lives represents the constant ebb and flow of our growth and journey. Her full brightness guides us by night, when darkness shrouds the world in subtle shadows, lending mystery and depths not visible by the light of day. As the Oracles of Old, when Time demands, She hides her Face casting us into total darkness that we may begin each cycle anew. Fresh with ideas born of her deepest night, we approach the day and our lives filled with the Mysteries and the Knowledge there is More. And that More is us. Visit Pamela's website at: https://www.steelewizard.com/ We’d love your suggestion or submissions for this column! If you have an idea or would love to contribute, please contact us at [email protected]. Cool New Event RUNE WISDOM TELESUMMIT ![]() ONE MORE DAY! There's still time to get the recordings! Love throwing some runes along with your tarot reading? The Rune Wisdom Telesummit is a multi-speaker event that will show you how to partner with the primordial energies of the Runes to energize your life and align with your own soul purpose. The event will run October 22 through November 2, with two one-hour calls every weekday. There's no cost to attend, and even if you can't attend the talks live, you'll get access to each replay for 48 hours! Click here for details: http://www.mcssl.com/app/?Clk=5627386 Best Practices for Professional Readers BALANCING A SMALL BUSINESS AND CREATIVE PURSUITS By Gina Thies www.tarotadvisor.com / www.facebook.com/tarotreaders www.tarotcoupling.com / www.oraclesoup.org When one thinks of balancing a professional life with creative interests, it may sound very familiar to what is commonly referred to as a work-life balance. A work-life balance consists of balancing one’s work or professional life with time for personal interests, time for family and friends, spiritual growth, fitness and other leisure activity. For some of you, tarot began as a hobby and now it will be a part-time or full-time business, which may be inclusive of professional reading, deck creations, book writing and other creative ways tarot is integrated into income generating opportunities. But how does one balance it all? I have spent a number of years and a lot of time developing my tarot practice with very strong results. Because I am a jack-of-all-trades, I wanted to write a book and also found myself creating a tarot deck! When I started the creation of my own tarot deck, Tarot of the Moors, there was a desire to return to my fine arts roots and create something truly unique. Of course, at the time, I had not considered the amount of time I would need to complete a deck. As I had not touched a canvas in over 20 years, could I truly do something that was quality? More important was the consideration of how I could keep up with clients and events, and still stay on task with painting. This may be something some of you are challenged by, too. I can say that I had to really master time management. Once creative juices start to flow, time gets away from you, not to mention that once you’re immersed in doing something you truly find relaxing and enjoy, work becomes something that can slip down the priority list. I’m a stickler for deadlines, but structured schedules are difficult for me. I really dislike alarm clocks. Finding a balance that would reduce stress and allow flexibility was vital. Since our talents as readers are what we can expect to be paid for, that needs to consistently be top priority. Creative passions and pursuits can be balanced with business interests by making some decisions around what is most important to you in all areas of personal and business life. Using systems and tools/apps are my “must-haves” for keeping it all together. Having easy access to these tools, and organizing appointments, generating contracts and other parts of my business assist me in managing my time and energy. If I can do it, so can you! Gina Upcoming Events:
• November 5, 12, 19 and 26, 2018
![]() Tarot Salon Forest Hills, New York
Our popular Monday night Salons are the hottest thing in tarot instruction!
http://tarot.salon
• December 8 – 9, 2018 WINTER INTENSIVE The Lords of Tarot: Esoteric Titles of the Minor Arcana Forest Hills, New York Click Here for Details. • April 25, 2019 Divination Day (Website coming soon!) • April 26 – 28, 2019 ![]() 2019 Readers Studio (Sold Out! Contact us to get on the waiting list) http://ReadersStudio.com (Note: This is still the RS18 website. The new one won't be ready for a little while yet, but much of the information is still useful.) Join our 10,300+ fans and join the fun!
Up to the minute news, mini lessons and more...
Do you have a question or comment on anything tarot?
Suggestions for future topics?
Contact [email protected]
For information on tarot classes, courses,
events and more, go to TarotSchool.com
![]() © Copyright 2018 The Tarot School - All Rights Reserved
Directors: Ruth Ann and Wald Amberstone
|