So as promised, here is the first in the next few entries, this particular one focusing on the Tarot. This will include some personal reflection. I’ll try to keep it it to as a minimum as its supposed to be detailing my experience with the Tarot, not the personal issues involved.
Introduction
I’ve always been interested in the concept of the Tarot, ever since being sixteen years of age, predating what I would consider to be my own spiritual awakening. Something about them has always had me enamoured – I think now looking back it was the ‘mysterious’ story surrounding them and my interests in different ways of divination in a psychological and artistic sense at the time.
When I actually underwent the spiritual change from my past to current self, some of that was invariably lost. In looking for deeper meaning within myself, and at other more ‘serious’ gnostic and witchcraft works, I began harboring the notion that Tarot, longed used by TV psychics and other charlatans, was a tool in self deception. Not surprising considering my sudden shift in mental patterns, I was still trying to make sense of things from my old, over critical mindset.
Sparking my Interest
After recently taking my witchmark, I decided that it was time to try out the Tarot for myself. The thought behind this was simple. I had been exposed to many things by that point which had shaken my previous convictions and made me a lot more open minded. Due to that, I believed that I needed to begin the search for tools which could aid in Magickal workings and Communication with the Divine, and that when found these needed to be tried out and experimented with, to see what would work for me as an individual.
Due to the abilities heightened and unlocked by the Witchmark and my completed self initiation, I felt like it was a good time to rekindle my interest in the Tarot. The logic was that, even if it had been used by charlatans and its origins over exaggerated and lied about, at the end of the day it was only a channel or conduit, not a source of action itself. On this basis, I decided that exploration in a creative manner would net me interesting results.. and so it did.
For a few weeks I investigated the traditional meanings of the cards, and picked out a deck that I felt attracted to for purely aesthetic reasons. I didn’t get too hung up on the meanings of the cards, but instead enjoyed researching hem, especially the major arcana, as Jungian Archetypes. Some very good information was found online once heavily sifted through. Eventually, relatively comfortable with the basic concepts, I decided to a very simple, one card reading.
One Card Reading
My first experiment was simple. I would do a small meditation and visualisation of Hecates sigil, ask a basic question asking her to answer it, whilst shuffling the deck. Taking one card out at random, when it felt ‘right’, yielded the Eight of Cups.
Eight of Cups from the Tarot Of Trees.
(Note: This was not the deck used, but I lacked a picture of this reading
and this Deck caught my eye)
This was pretty interesting to see, especially considering it’s the card I was expecting to come up! At that point in my Life when this card was pulled, I had felt that all my efforts outside of exploring my spiritually had been destroyed and smashed. I had also been attempting, and still attempting, to repair to me an important relationship that had ended in bewildering circumstances leading to feelings of loss, regret, sorrow and confusion. This had been leaving me feeling drained and lacking hope, with the feeling that I wanted to grow out of those circumstances into something that was more meaningful and become more effective as a person without knowing how or if I had the potential to do so.
This threw me for a bit, despite my attempts to rationalise it as confirmation bias, so I didn’t attempt the next reading until several weeks later.
Three Card Reading
Feeling emboldened by the previous reading, despite its confirmation of my negative state at the time, I decided to try a slightly more complex reading. This time, I did the same whilst shuffling the deck as the first instead this time concentrating on asking Hecate about my present course on the path of flames, and where it could lead if i continued in the same vein. Splitting the deck into three, I then revealed the top three cards in left to right fashion on the stacks and laid them down in front of me.
Actual picture of the reading, revealing the
King of Pentacles, Five of Swords, and Ten of Cups.
This was another interesting result. The King of Pentacles traditionally represents an solid foundation in material wealth, that can mean alot of wealth or quality of life and wealth. However, in regards to this reading and seeing the full picture, it instead spoke to me of my distant past as someone rooted in a safe upbringing with very athiestic, earthly tendencies, and accepting the prefered worldview.
The Five of Swords was a very interesting card to get, and one that resonated with me alot. This card represents a difficult conflict in progress, that can have either a negative or positive effect, either way with some negative consequences. Due to the final card, I dismissed several interpretations which did not make sense in light of it, and instead settled on my own personal meaning. This was that the difficult battle would be a testing time, pitting my will and direction with others and not everything will go my way. However I saw this as a positive sign in that although their would be a price to pay, and it would be an emotionally and spiritually testing one, that it would likely develop into the final card.
The final card is the Ten of Cups, which represents spiritual and emotional fufilment and balance. To me this was a joyous card to receive from Hecate – whilst it doesnt mean permanance or assurance, I couldn’t have asked for a better result to the challenge of The Five of Swords. It’s good message, I was happy to receive in relation to my question to her.
When compared with the other cards, this indeed showed a tradeoff and a dying of an old self to attain something new, through the process of a difficult, conflict and not entirely scarless transformation. This I took as a good sign,despite there being a warning buried within it I needed to heed.
Full Reading
So following on from these readings, after another several days, I felt like it was time to try a much more complex reading. The issue surrounding and pushing through on the first rading was the fallout from a long lasting, doomed relationship. The issue about this I wanted to resolve was what to do with the remaining friendship, due to it causing lingering problems. I wanted to ask Hecate for help in that manner, as it was becoming obstructive to my path and to moving forward in any manner. With this in mind, I used a simplish spread that I found admittedly online and gave it a shot.
Actual picture of the reading, revealing the
layout of the spread.
I’ll detail the cards in position, thier meaning and then wrap up with a conclusion to the reading and post.
Distant Past : King of Pentacles
Interesting that the King of Pentacles would show up again in this reading, in the distant past section. Considering my previous stable life, and admittedly lucky circumstances, this card made perfect sense in a more materialistic, straightforward way in this position outside of needing comparison with the second reading. For this reason, I didn’t dwell on this card, which I saw as just confirming what had already been revealed to some extent in the last reading.
Recent Past: Five of Cups
This card also made alot of sense in this position. The Five of Cups indicates feelings of loss and regret in the recent past. Considering the nature of the question and the surrounding situation, this perfectly described the recent past in black and white terms. It also to me additionally indicated the suddeness of the change, and the shock associated with it, in addition to the actual lingering consequences.
Present: Ace of Pentacles
This was an interesting card to get, and one that revealed a good foundation around which to base any decision. It also revealed what present weakness was also furthering the problem, rather than contributing to it being fixed. This was revealed by the other cards, and that error and issue was placing too much trust into the current state of affairs.
Future Influences: Four of Pentacles
The Four of Pentacles was also a very powerful card in this reading, and I read it as a warning for the future that was walking into, and one that I wanted to avoid if at all possible. This card indicates hoarding, the need to possess, maintain control, and keep the status quo. Due to my prior influences and the situation at hand, I could see how walking into such a mentally and spiritually confining place could be very easy to do. As such, I took this card as a serious warning.
External Influences: King of Wands
The card of this position indicates an external influence, I took the presence of the King of Wards indicated an actual person other than myself who was . This was another major card for me. I had recently been talking to another person in my life who I regard as being a definite King of Wands, who had been helping me in alot of different matters. This fire and energy had been transfered to me, and given me the strength needed
to continue growing in my magickal work. This had had an affect on all matters in my life, especially when it all had culminated in me acquiring my witchmark. It had been this energy which had revitalised me and spurred me on to challenge this issue head on. As such, I saw this external influence as being the pushing point to initiation the reading, and change within me.
My Mental Attitude: Page of Cups
The appearance of the Page of Cups indicated that my mindset up until the reading and decision to push forward had been one revolving around still around intimacy, loving and caring indicating to me the mental reasons that had been contributing to me continue down the current path. Whilst revealing nothing new to me, seeing this card in this position helped confirm that I had read the initial situation correctly.
Helpful Energies: Three of Pentacles
This card, appearing in this position, was another interesting card. From its position and my reading, it refered in my mind more to help and support I have been getting from others, rather than the person in question. These people have been supporting me through dealing with the issue, unknown to them really, and had been keeping it from escalating into a problem up until this point.
Main Problem: Two of Cups
The Two of Cups represents lovers, or a relationship. Due to this being in the problem position, I interpreted this a blunt way – that the person is question was developing a relationship with another. When read with the other cards, I saw this as being an unsurmountable problem – as such, rather than resist it in any fashion mentally, direct my efforts elsewhere.
Hope and Fears: Four of Cups
Another card that pinpointed something I had alreaady to an extent encountered, making an existing thought be able to be seen more clearly. The Four of Cups indicates withdrawal from the world and self absorption. In the position of Hopes and Fears, I interpreted this as my fear that, if this situation continued, it would cause me me to stagnate in the worst way possible to the point of becoming reclusive.
Final Result: Eight of Swords
The Eight of Swords was the final nail in the coffin. The Eight of Swords indicates the feeling of being bound, with no way out. It indicates that a person feels like whatever decision they take, they will be gravely injured. This was well represented on the card itself – one move would cause the guillotine to fall severing the head.
However, the card also shows that this is also caused by a certain amount of self delusion caused by the situation, and that other options exist that will result in a positive payoff if only they are looked for an explored.
With this being the final result, I decided that looking for those options in the present before the situation got too bad was the most wise course of action.
Conclusion of Final Reading
With the overall reading being dominated by feelings of lethargy and entrapment, I decided that action was necessary to prevent such a situation from arising. As such, I set about first to see if the actual situation matched that of the cards in regards to the other person. It turned out that, unfortunately, the reading was entirely correct.
I would find out, through pursuing the matter further, that the reading has accurately assessed the situation down to the exact details. It did turn out that this person had been using me as an emotional crutch, all the while beginning a new relationship with another. They finally explained to me first hand that they were unable to tell me for multiple reasons, and were pursuing this new relationship to to avoid with dealing with existing issues as some sort of panacea.
As such I took the stark warning in the cards seriously, and severed any relationship with this individual in the kindest way possible. Since then, things have drastically improved. I no longer feel mentally shackled or bound, and have been able to move on in both my magickal and mundane projects, and my personal relations with others have improved.
Conclusion
I can honestly say that using the Tarot as a divinatory and decision making tool has so far yielded exceptional results.
Using only a very basic method, I have been able to achieve consistent results outside of even needing to consecrate them as tools. I have been quite surprised at this, as I fully expected them to be a very hit and miss, without much practical application.
With them turning out to be the opposite, I will definetly be using them in future workings to ascertain just how useful they can actually be. This will inevitably be expanded as I learn more about them, and how they can be applied to my own Path and in Divinatory use. As always, if anything interesting I can share surfaces, I will gladly share them here.
Thanks for taking the time to read this as always.
~S~
The Luciferian Revolution 