THE TAROT AND PSYCHIC ABILITY

The origin of the tarot is a mystery. We do know for sure that the cards were used in Italy in the fifteenth century as a popular card game.

Wealthy patrons commissioned beautiful decks, some of which have survived. The Visconti-Sforza, created in 1450 or shortly thereafter, is one of the earliest and most complete.

The tarot is most commonly viewed as a tool for divination.

A traditional tarot reading involves a seeker - someone who is looking for answers to personal questions - and a reader - someone who knows how to interpret the cards. After the seeker has shuffled and cut the deck, the reader lays out the chosen cards in a pattern called a spread. Each position in the spread has a meaning, and each card has a meaning as well. The reader combines these two meanings to shed light on the seeker's question.

A simple process, but rarely presented in a simple way. In films, we always see the tarot being used in a seedy parlor or back room. An old woman, seated in shadows, reads the cards for a nervous, young girl. The crone lifts her wrinkled finger and drops it ominously on the Death card. The girl draws back, frightened by this sign of her impendingdoom.

This aura of darkness clings to the tarot cards, even now. Some religions shun the cards, and the scientific establishment condemns them as symbols of unreason, a holdover from an unenlightened past. Let us set aside these shadowy images for now and consider the tarot simply forwhat it is - a deck of picture cards. The question becomes - what can we do with them?

The answer lies with the unconsciousthat deep level of memory andawareness that resides within each of us, but outside our everyday experience. Even though we ignore the action of the unconscious most of the time, it profoundly affects everything we do. In his writings,
Sigmund Freud stressed the irrational, primitive aspect of the subconscious. He thought that it was the home of our most unacceptable desires and urges. His contemporary Carl Jung emphasized the positive, creative aspect of the subconscious. He tried to show that it has a collective component that touches universal qualities.
We may never know the full range and power of the subconscious, but there are ways to explore its landscape. Many techniques have been developed for this purpose - psychotherapy, dream interpretation, visualization and meditation. The tarot is another such tool.
Meaning is a truly mysterious quality that arises at the juncture of inner and outer realities. There is a message in everything...trees,songs, even trash...but only when we are open to perceiving it.

The tarot cards convey many messages because of the richness of their images and connections. More importantly, tarot readings communicate meaningbecause we bring to them our sincere desire to discover deeper truths about our lives. By seeking meaning in this way, we honor its realityand give it a chance to be revealed.

If there is a meaning in a reading, where does it come from? I believe it comes from that part of ourselves that is aware of the divinesource of meaning. This is an aspect of the subconscious, yet it is much more. It acts as a wise advisor who knows us well. It understands what we need and leads us in the direction we need to go.

Some people call this advisor the soul, the superconscious, or the higher self. What everyou call it, that is the role it plays in connection with the tarot.
Each of us has an Inner Guide that serves as a fountain of meaningfor us. Your Inner Guide is always with you because it is a part of you. You can't destroy this connection, but you can ignore it.

When you reach for your tarot deck, you signal to your Subconscious that you are open to its wisdom. This simple act of faith allows you to become aware of the guidance that was always there for you.
We are meant by nature to rely on the wisdom of our Subconscious, but somehow we have forgotten how to access it.

We trust our conscious minds instead, and forget to look deeper. Our conscious minds are clever, but
unfortunately, they just don't have the full awareness we need to make appropriate choices day by day.

When we are operating from our conscious minds, we often feel as if events are forced upon us by chance. Life seems to have little purpose, and we suffer because we do not really understand who we are and what we want.

When we know how to access our subconscious, we experience life differently. We have the certainty and peace that comes from aligning our conscious will with our inner purpose. Our path becomes more joyous, and we see more clearly how we bring together the scattered elements of our lives to fulfill our destinies.
I use the tarot because it is one of the best tools I have found tomake the whispers of my subconscious more available consciously. The ideas, images and feelings that emerge as I work are a message from my
subconscious.

How do I know there is a message, and it's not just my imagination?

I don't, really. I can only trust my experience and see what happens.
You do not really need the tarot to access your subconscious. The cards serve the same function as Dumbo's magic feather.

In the Disney movie, Dumbo the Elephant really could fly on his own, but he didn't believe it. He placed all his faith on the special feather he held in his trunk. He thought this feather gave him the power to fly, but he found out differently when it blew away, and he was forced to fall back
on his own resources.
The tarot cards may help you fly until you can reach your subconscious on your own. Don't worry for now about how this might happen.

Just play with the cards and see if you don't experience a few surprises.

Time to Learn the Tarot