Tarot Tips: Using Multiple Decks (Part 2)
Published: Wed, 06/01/16
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![]() Newsletter of The Tarot School
http://TarotSchool.com ISSN: 1529-0565 Vol. 8 #4 / June 1, 2016
In this Issue: - Welcome
- Tarot Tip: Relationships — The Thorny Question: What if a client can’t find love?
- Tarot School Aphorism
- What's Gnu?
- PsychWise: Using Multiple Decks for A Single Reading (Part 2) - Best Practices: Repairing Damage From Unethical Spiritual Practitioners
- Upcoming Events ![]() Welcome to a new issue of Tarot Tips! And a special welcome to our new subscribers.
We’re back!This year's Readers Studio was out of this World! The picture to the left is just one example of the wonderful and wacky time we had there. To share your memories or see what you missed, visit our Facebook group here... https://www.facebook.com/groups/ReadersStudio/ There's absolutely nothing like the tarot community! And anyone who is part of any community knows how important it is to connect with others and develop lasting relationships. This issue takes an in-depth look at how tarot can help with relationship issues. It all starts with a tip from one of the 2016 Tarot and Psychology Conference presenters, Jenne Perlstein! Jenne joined us all the way from Oz (Australia) where she has been doing some fascinating work with tarot. In the Best Practices Column, Gina takes a look at what can be done to help your clients when they have bad experiences, and Dr. Elinor continues sharing her techniques in Part 2 of using multiple decks in a single reading. And one more thing...
One of the extra-special things that happened at RS16 was a surprise visit by Stuart Kaplan, the founder of U.S. Games Systems, Inc. – and the man responsible for making tarot decks available in the United States. It was quite moving for him to see first-hand what a vibrant, creative and thriving community he spawned from his initial business decision so many years ago! He and the USG crew generously gifted everyone in the room with a copy of Rachel Pollack's Tarot For Magical Times and Stuart's own Blue Bird Lenormand. We offer them huge thanks for everything! With love on the tarot journey, Ruth Ann, Wald, Gina & Elinor
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RELATIONSHIPS – THE THORNY QUESTION:
What if a client can't find love? by Jenne Perlstein MBBS BSW AASW Grad OSIS CMC Cert 4 TAE
Often clients come asking this question, or it emerges during the Tarot consultation. While there are many reasons why someone can’t find love, some of the most common ones are related to early childhood experiences. Most parents do their best at the parenting process. But clients will sometimes say ‘I had a good upbringing,’ then tell you about significant early difficulties of a psychological /emotional nature. For example, a recent client told me her family rarely went out, she wasn’t allowed the usual childhood experiences like riding a bike, and she had to ‘tip toe’ around her mother so as not to upset her. Parents often replay the patterns of parenting that they experienced as children, or as a consequence of other events/traumas in their lives such as war, Holocaust, economic hardship, etc. Formative Relationships When questions of love come up in a reading, I may ask about the client’s family of origin, specifically their relationship with their mother, father and siblings, and about the relationship between their parents. The first few years of life, from birth to three years of age, are crucial for attachment and the development and imprint of emotional experiences in the brain. The client will often say they can’t remember details from that period of their lives, but you might be able to extrapolate from how they experienced their parents during that period. Ask questions such as: • If you were upset could you go to your parents for support? • Could you talk to your parents about what was troubling you? Could you express anger? Could you cuddle with them? • Did you have to be the ‘parent’ for your parents or their pseudo spouse? • What happened if you were naughty? Often these experiences emerge during the process of the consultation, with just some prompts. Here’s another question to ask: • What number sibling position are you in the family? Youngest are sometimes ignored or given too much attention, the middle child could feel lost and sandwiched between the others. The eldest is often the more ‘parent-identified’, overly responsible child, sometimes taking care of the younger ones or the parent(s) themselves. That care maybe emotional / psychological and subtle, where the child’s needs were secondary and the parent’s needs came first. While I can’t go into all the possibilities here, themes like these often emerge and give clues to the client’s relationship issues. How Tarot Can Help With a sense of some of the theory, a Tarot spread can be useful in adding clarity and detail. Use a 3-card triangle spread of the client plus two parental figures or caretakers. (Even if one of the parents is absent, they still play a role.) Parent 1 Parent 2 Child Have the client shuffle and draw a card for each position. You may decide to use Major Arcana only. Interpret with a view to 1. Exploring the relationship between the parents and 2. The relationship of each to the child. Given the original information gleaned from the client, further information may come out as you interpret with your usual tarot skills. For example, wands for mother might indicate a fiery, passionate, self-involved mother. If the father is pentacles/earth, maybe there was some lack of understanding, a focus on practical/financial matters, or dominance of the mother over the father. Use the client’s impression of the cards to aid the interpretation. You might also look at whether or not the figures are facing each other. Bring your skills and your style as a reader to the interpretation. The relationship between parents is crucial, as this is the model to the child of what intimacy is about. If it is a poor parental ‘marriage,’ the child may conclude that “If this is love/intimacy, then I don’t want it!” Thus we begin to answer the original question and get a sense of what is going on for the client. Often this is unconscious and new to them, but some have awareness of these issues and can integrate these insights with the reader’s help. Inner Child Work Inner child work is another area to explore. It is possible to answer the question, “What does your inner child need to enable openness to a relationship?” with a simple, non-positional 3-card spread, that focuses on needs and action to be taken. Insights drawn from the cards in this simple standard reading may enable a client to cast some light on the connection between their family of origin and their adult relationships, and why finding a partner seems elusive. By getting in touch with their inner child, they may recognize subtle patterns of relationships like avoidance by choosing impossible partners, or by choosing avoidant types who can’t commit, when they tend to be anxious and insecurely attached themselves. Attention to the inner child can enable self-love and attention to needs that the inner nurturing parent can address, thus lessening the pressure to have those needs met by another. A healthy relationship can ‘top up’ our emotional and intimacy needs. As a Tarot reader, you may be able to offer some ‘predictive’ possibilities as well, but this insight-based approach can give clarity and direction for the client, and lead to an overall deepening of the reading. About the author: Tarot reader, astrologer and counsellor, Jenne Perlstein, combines her conventional counseling practice with the spiritual and esoteric, “aiming for balance and integration of the psyche and soul” by bringing the unconscious into the light. Jenne integrates clinical and educative experience as a Social Worker (29 years) with knowledge of Medicine, and a passion for the esoteric and psycho-spiritual. Email: [email protected] Website: www.tarotastrocounselling.com.au Tarot School Aphorism ![]() ![]() ![]() A podcast series for Tarot professionals about illness, death, divorce, income loss, retirement, and other uncomfortable topics that most of us don’t want to talk about – but need to discuss. As a professional Tarot reader, are you setting aside savings for retirement? If your business partner could no longer work with you, could you run your Tarot business on your own, or would you be paralyzed? Do you have a plan in the event of an illness or death in your family? What if you become ill or disabled – what happens to your Tarot business and your clientele? If your spouse lost his or her job, or if you suffered some other type of income loss, could the two of you survive on your Tarot income alone? These are the big, uncomfortable questions that most Tarot professionals don’t want to discuss. But as a community, we’ve got to start talking. We can’t bury our heads in the sand and pretend that these types of issues will “resolve themselves” or “go away.” We need to open up about the big issues in our lives so that we can share ideas, support, and strategies. WHAT IF? is a new podcast series – hosted by Theresa Reed and Wald Amberstone – that delves into some of the big “What if?” questions that many of us are privately wondering about. While we are covering scary topics, this is not a scary podcast. Our goal is to dissolve some of the “shame” surrounding these big questions and provide encouragement and inspiration. We want you to savor this podcast series and finish up feeling invigorated, ready to take practical steps to create a more secure future for yourself and your family, feeling empowered to handle whatever life throws your way. No matter what has happened in your life or career up until this point, your story is not over yet. You get to write the next chapter – and you are definitely not alone. There are a lot of “What if?” questions and dilemmas – but there are a lot of solutions, too. We hope this podcast series reveals some new solutions for you – or gets these necessary conversations rolling with you and your loved ones. Episode 1 – Age Old Questions Episode 2 – Tarot Business Episode 3 – Technology Episode 4 – Just in Case Episode 5 – Lone Wolf No More Episode 6 – Staying Power Free Recordings and Resources are all posted at: http://www.thetarotlady.com/what-if/ PsychWise – Tarot & Psychology Q & A with Elinor Greenberg, PhD, CGP, CPTR HOW TO USE MULTIPLE DECKS IN A SINGLE READING PART 2: DIVINATION TECHNIQUES ![]() Today’s column is Part 2 of my elaborate rationale to justify all the Tarot decks that I buy, but rarely use. Last issues’s column dealt with how to use multiple decks in projective Tarot Counseling techniques. If you missed Part 1, you can read it here: http://tarotschool.com/TarotTips160301.html This time I discuss what multiple decks can add to a traditional Tarot reading. METHOD 1: USING DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THE SAME CARD At the recent Readers Studio 2016 Tarot Conference, I fell
============================================================in love with a new deck called “The Timeless Tarot” by Tara Winstanley. It is a sweet deck of pictures collected from a variety of sources arranged in the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition. My last year’s favorite deck was the very different, but equally wonderful, Ellen Lorenzi-Prince’s “Dark Goddess Tarot.” I have an important decision to make about a recent book that I am almost finished writing on Borderline, Narcissistic, and Schizoid Adaptations. I decided to do a reading about it, first using my trusty R-W-S deck and then using the other two decks as commentary. I won’t give the whole reading here, but I will show you how looking at the three different versions of one of the cards in the spread was practically a whole reading all by itself! Outcome Card: 2 of Swords I got the 2 of Swords in the R-W-S deck in the outcome position (Card 10) in the Celtic Cross spread. This card in that deck shows a blindfolded woman sitting on a stone bench with her arms crossed on her chest. She holds a sword up in each hand. It is night and behind her you can see water with rocks in it. Between her swords the crescent moon is visible. The astrological attribution for this card is the Moon in Libra. The name of this card in the Golden Dawn system is “Peace Restored.” The usual Tarot meaning in a reading is that there is a decision to be made, but the querent is not yet ready to choose. She is delaying choosing for the moment because she cannot see which decision is best (hence, the blindfold). However, the swords are too heavy to hold indefinitely and she will eventually have to make a choice, whether she likes it or not. The “peace” illustrated in this card is definitely a temporary one. I decided to see what the 2 of Swords from “The Timeless Tarot” had to say. This card shows a man whispering in the ear of the blindfolded woman who he is hovering over and gently touching. I immediately understood what this meant. I was getting confused by all the advice I was getting from other people. However, I still did not know what to do or what approach to take towards my issue. I then said: “Let’s see what the “Dark Goddess” has to say to me.” The 2 of Swords in that deck is the 2 of Air and is called “Athena.” It shows the Greek Goddess of Wisdom and War at the top of a mountain looking down, wearing her helmet and holding an upright spear planted in the ground in her right hand and cradling an owl in her left. It took me longer to parse out how this card related to my issue. My first thought was that it meant that I should fight for my view of my book project. My wisdom would help dispel the confusion that listening to other people’s opinions had created. I decided to “google” Athena and see what I might be missing that could be helpful. Wikipedia (the free online encyclopedia) added that Athena is slow to anger, only fought for just reasons, and would not fight without a purpose. This card led to me making a decision: I would wait two more weeks, consider my options, then, having listened to others’ opinions, I would calmly decide the issue. If necessary, I would certainly fight for my own vision of my project and not trust other people to know better about what to do. Let’s look at this as an actual 3-card reading: Card 1: The Issue 2 of Swords from the R-W-S deck Message: You have a decision too make but you can pause for the moment and stop worrying. You have a little time before you have to actually make it. Card 2: The Problem 2 of Swords from the Timeless Tarot deck Message: Some of your confusion is due to listening to someone else’s opinions. Card 3: The Solution 2 of Swords from the Dark Goddess Tarot deck Message: Stay calm, use your own wisdom, and be prepared to fight for what you believe is right. You have two weeks to think about it and gather information, then act. (I got the 2 weeks from it being a 2, and “thinking about it” from it being the suit of Air or Swords, which is mental activity and the “act” from the presence of Athena). This method is easily adapted to any position in a spread about which the querent wants more information. It is also useful when you, the reader, feel as if the last card is either overly negative or inconclusive. I find three cards to be ideal, but you might want more. I do recommend that you use decks that in the R-W-S tradition to illustrate the suit cards with evocative pictures and not just repetitions of the suit sign. METHOD 2: MIXING CARDS FROM DIFFERENT DECKS One of the reasons that I own so many decks is that I tend to fall in love with a few cards in the deck, buy the deck, and then find that I end up disliking a lot of the other cards in the deck. For example, I fell in love with Key 0 The Fool card in Ciro Marchetti’s “Gilded Tarot” when it was passed around in a Readers Studio conference before the deck’s publication. His art is amazing and The Fool popped out at me in an almost 3-dimensional way. I rushed to buy the deck when it became available. As I eagerly looked through the deck for the first time, I marveled at Key 1 The Magician. However, next came Key 2 The High Priestess, I was shocked to see her portrayed as a naked sexy woman who was leaping out of the water. My understanding of the Major Arcana images comes from the Western Mystery Tradition in which Key 2 The High Priestess represents (among other things) “Isis Veiled” and Key 17 The Star card is “Isis Unveiled.” A naked and leaping High Priestess felt extremely jarring to me, so jarring that I found it difficult to use the deck for readings. As I continued looking through the deck, I found other jarring cards. Most of the cards that I found disturbing depicted what seemed to me to be over-sexualized and inappropriate pictures of women that often contradicted the traditional meanings associated with the card. The men in the deck were depicted more traditionally. I love the “Gilded Tarot” but I hate many of its depictions of women. I decided that I needed to find a solution: a way to use this and other decks that were beautiful, but had too many cards that I actively disliked or found boring and uninspiring. If you are a promiscuous deck buyer like me, you too probably have a variety of decks that you semi-like and rarely use in readings. My Solution: A Craft Project One of my projects this Summer will be to gather a bunch of these semi-liked and rarely used decks that are approximately the same size (or could be made the same size with a little judicious use of the scissor), take out the cards that I like best from each, and assemble a new deck from these cards. If trimming a deck makes you nervous, you can either stick with decks of similar size or compile a deck of different size cards. After all, where is it written that a Tarot deck needs to have all cards be the same size? If you find the different backs jarring, you can do a little extra work and cover them with “contact paper” or glue a backing of your choice to all of them. By the way, I plan to restrict my project to commercially produced decks that are still available. My art decks are sacrosanct. Any number of decks can be used for this project and the resulting Tarot deck will have the benefit of being totally unique and a perfect reflection of your taste in Tarot. METHOD 3: THE GRAND TAROT SPREAD This is a good method to use when you have a lot of time to fill and want to do something impressive and very dramatic. You will need a good amount of table space for it to work well, a few beautiful Tarot bags containing different decks, and some crystals and candles as props. This method is likely to work best for experienced readers who are confident reading with different decks and have a flair for the dramatic. This way of using multiple decks came from my experience during an hour-plus Tarot reading that I received at the Enchantment’s Resort in Sedona, AZ. The reader, a former actor, was very dramatic. When I arrived for my reading, I walked into the room and found him dressed head to toe in black, standing beside a long table covered with a black velvet cloth. The room lights were dimmed. At the corners of the table he had laid large lit candles and a few beautiful crystals. On the table was a selection of opulent Tarot bags made out of brocades and velvets, each containing a deck within it. The reader asked me to meditate for a moment and then select the Tarot bag that I felt most drawn to. I did not know what deck would be in the bag. He had me shuffle the deck while thinking of my question. Then he laid out the cards in a 10 card Kabbalah spread in the form of the Tree of Life. These were full size Tarot cards and this spread took up most of the table. The bright colors of the cards against the velvet cloth, the sparkling crystals, and the flickering light of the candles made the whole affair seem very important and mysteriously beautiful. After interpreting the first spread, he left it down, and then asked me to choose another one of the remaining Tarot bags. He took out the deck from inside it, had me shuffle it, and then he overlapped the cards of the first spread with entirely new cards from this second deck. He interpreted this second set of cards as additional information about the cards in the first spread. Then he had me choose one of the positions in the spread that I wanted still more information about. Again, I was asked to choose another Tarot bag. This time he asked me to choose only one card from that deck and put it down on the spread wherever I wanted clarification. At the end he summarized the reading for me. I was really impressed that he could summarize the reading, because by then I was thoroughly confused, but definitely impressed by the whole thing. I left feeling as if I had participated in a Tarot ritual. Because this particular multiple-deck reading style is a bit complicated to duplicate without having seen it for yourself, I have included step-by-step instructions on how to do something similar below. INSTRUCTIONS Step 1: Prepare your table ahead of time. You will need a cloth, candles, crystals, and some beautiful Tarot bags each holding a different deck. Step 2: Wear something appropriate to the mood you want to set in the reading. Be consistent. If your table looks like Madam Blavatsky is doing the reading, don’t dress as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. Step 3: Choose a Tarot spread that you are VERY comfortable with. However, I advise you to pick one that uses at least six cards. This is not the time to do a simple 3-card reading! I would probably use a Celtic Cross spread. Step 4: When your querent enters the room, allow a moment for him or her to feel the effect of the atmosphere that you have created. Then invite your querent to take a moment to feel the energies of each Tarot bag and choose the one he or she feels most attracted to now. Step 5: Have the querent tell you the question and then proceed as you normally would. Here is how I usually do it: • I hand my querent the Tarot pack that she has chosen with the cards face-down, and ask her to shuffle the cards while thinking about her issue. • I ask the querent’s permission to say a silent prayer that our energies to be joined together during this reading, with the cards, and with Divinity for the purpose of getting clear and useful information about her issue. I invite her to say a silent prayer in her own tradition or to simply sit quietly and form the intention, while she shuffles, that her issue would be illuminated by this reading. • I then ask her to cut the deck into three piles with her non-dominant hand, put the cards back together, and give me the deck. • I lay out the cards in my spread and do the interpretation. Step 6: Have the querent choose a second Tarot bag. Take out the deck, have the querent shuffle, cut, and again hand you the deck face down. Step 7: Overlay the cards of the first spread with this second set of cards and interpret them in terms of how they shed further light on the original reading. You can pick and choose here and only read those cards that you think are actually useful. Step 8: Have the querent choose a card from one of the remaining Tarot bags and have the querent put it down on the spread wherever she would like additional information. I like to have the querent lay this card down herself to increase her participation in the reading. Step 9: Read this final card and relate it to the rest of the reading. Step 10: Summarize the important parts of the reading for the querent. Obviously, with a 10-card Celtic Cross laid down twice (20 cards), plus a final card (we now have 21 cards on the table), it is wise to pull the whole reading together in a fairly succinct manner. Otherwise, it will be too much information and the person is likely to go away confused, rather than enlightened. I have purposely chosen three very different methods that take advantage of the many decks that most of us already own. My hope is that this will inspire you to invent new and creative ways to actually use your collection of Tarot decks. I will leave you with a fourth method that you can think about for next year. Bring your unwanted or little-used decks to the next Readers Studio Tarot Conference and put them out on the swap table for someone else to take and enjoy. Doing so gives you the right to choose new decks from the ones that other people have left there. Of course this will still leave you with just as many multiple decks, but at least you can feel virtuous about not having spent additional money to get them. ![]() is an internationally renowned Gestalt therapy trainer who specializes in teaching the diagnosis and treatment of Borderline, Narcissistic, and Schizoid adaptations. She has been studying tarot since 1995 and is psychology consultant to The Tarot School, where she earned a Third Degree in Tarot. She is a member of B.O.T.A. (Builders of the Adytum) and has been certified as a professional tarot reader by the American Tarot Association. ADVANCED BIRTH CARD INTENSIVE
ENVIRONMENTS OF POWER In tarot, the place where the powers of heightened self-awareness begin is the individual Birth Card environment. Everyone without exception is a variation on the themes of their own Birth Cards. Each Birth Card landscape contains contexts for living ranging in scale from the small to the enormous, from the everyday to the inconceivable. Coming to know those things, you begin to have a choice of the size and shape of the stage on which to play out the drama of your life. To pursue such a choice is a choice in itself. What is possible for you ranges from very little to a great deal. The first step in the process of choice is to enter your own Birth Card environment and explore its possibilities and powers. In this intensive, you will not be doing Birth Card readings. Instead, you will open a hitherto unseen doorway into your own Birth Card landscape and step through for the first time. A choice will become possible for you, and a path will open for you that you might never have imagined. Come and join us for the sheer adventure of it! Dates: Saturday & Sunday, July 9-10, 2016 Times: 11am – 7pm both days Tuition: $250 Seating Limited to 10 Location: Forest Hills, NY Directions: Provided upon registration Best Practices for Professional Readers
REPAIRING DAMAGE FROM
UNETHICAL SPIRITUAL PRACTITIONERS By Gina Thies
Recently, I have experienced an influx of interesting and
complex cases. This has inspired me to look at best practices not only in terms of business growth, but also best practices in professionalism and ethics. In my practice there’s hardly a week that goes by in which I don’t hear from a prospective new client that contacts me, often in distress caused by serious life circumstances, in search of authentic intuitive guidance. It’s not so much that they have trouble finding a reader, but all too often, they report that the ethics, trustworthiness and practices of readers they have previously worked with are questionable. Needless to say, it’s disheartening to hear a client say they have been through 3 or 4 readers and are left more confused than ever due to conflicting advice/information that does not resonate with them or is otherwise not helpful. Now I know that some of the blame and misdirection can be due to the misunderstanding of the scope and/or capacity of the experience and talent of the reader. The thing I want to address here is the type of damage that leaves a querent spiritually, emotionally, financially or physically wrecked, and causes them to seek your help to get the right information or otherwise fix a bad experience. It’s not news that in this business we are up against many negative stereotypes and lots of things that have given tarot readers, psychics and intuitive messengers a bad rap. There are many in the community striving to achieve or maintain the high level of honor that the art of reading deserves. But alas, it’s pretty minescule considering the vastness of the business of spiritual or intuitive guidance. Can you really repair damage caused by another reader? How can you know if you’re simply dealing with a dissatisfied client instead of someone who has been mislead or scammed? Assisting a person to get past their dilemma begins with your own sense of high ethics, standards and good common sense. Be aware that some querents may be too embarrassed to share their experience until trust is established. It may be helpful to inquire if they have had a consultation on the matter other than yours. Many querents are “psychically fickle” and go from reader to reader trying to find answers that best fit what they want to hear. Another best practice for you is to get to the core of what they are expecting from a session with you. A client who is upset because they were told something they didn’t want to hear is quite different from being told to do something or believe something that disregards their own personal boundaries or better judgment. In terms of repairing what other readers have done or said, it may be a big task. If you feel you can help, go slowly, be cautious, and treat treat your client’s issues with delicacy and respect. If you feel that something is beyond your range, refer it to someone who is more seasoned or the appropriate professional or authority. Be well and prosper my friends! Tarot Salon
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July 9 – 10, 2016
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