Tarot for Your Self: A Workbook for the Inward Journey (35th Anniversary Edition)
304
Tarot for Your Self: A Workbook for the Inward Journey (35th Anniversary Edition)
304Paperback(Anniversar)
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Overview
“Deciding to work with the Tarot is like embarking on a long, inward journey.”—Mary K. Greer
This tarot classic by Mary K. Greer was the first book to promote reading the cards for your own insight, revolutionizing tarot through a combined emphasis on self-teaching techniques and personal growth. Tarot for Your Self uses meditations, rituals, spreads, mandalas, visualizations, dialogues, charts, affirmations, and other activities to help you establish your own relationship with the cards. All the information is presented using the best in traditional knowledge and know-how. This powerful breakthrough process will turn all your readings into truly transformative experiences.
Tarot for Your Self covers interpretations for the major and minor arcana, reversed card meanings for all 78 cards, and enlightening information on your shadow/teacher cards.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781578636792 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Red Wheel/Weiser |
| Publication date: | 09/01/2019 |
| Edition description: | Anniversar |
| Pages: | 304 |
| Sales rank: | 102,957 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.00(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Getting Acquainted with the Cards
ROTA TARO ORAT TORA ATOR
The wheel of Tarot speaks the law of Hathor.
Deciding to work with Tarot is like embarking on a long journey, an inward journey that cannot be taken lightly. It is a discipline, the origins of which are ancient and obscure. The word "Tarot" has been associated with the Egyptian "royal road of life"; and the anagram "rota," which is Latin for wheel, suggests the means of progressing along that road.
It has also been referred to as a map, or a key. The Major and Minor Arcana into which the deck is divided are "arks," or containers that, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, "hold the great secret of nature that alchemists sought to find," the concealed knowledge of the self. These arcana are the keys that open the container of the self.
Paul Foster Case envisioned the keys of the Major Arcana as making up the structural dimensions of a cube of space — the foundations of our universe. At the heart of this cube is a cross, similar to the rosy cross pictured on the back of the Crowley-Harris Thoth deck.
The French occultists Eliphas Lévi and Gerard Encausse (Papus) saw the Tree of Life as a living Tarot landscape, a detailed map of which may be found in Gareth Knight's A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism.
As in the quotation at the beginning of this chapter, "rota" gives the Tarot its definition of "wheel," a spinning center of energy that Charles Williams, in his novel The Greater Trumps, described as dancing the dance of life. If you could follow the intricacies of this dance you would be at one with the Fool — the still center of the dance.
The Tarot also represents "torah," which translates from Hebrew as "the law." The first five books of the Jewish Testament are also called the Tora. The Tarot as a book of "tora" is the law book held in the lap of the High Priestess, representing the law, which can only be known by intuition — by personal experience. She is the oracle or sybil, a priestess of Hathor, the Egyptian earth goddess who predates Isis. The horned headdress of this cow-headed goddess marks the waxing, full, and waning moons; the cycle or wheel of creation, the basic measure of time used in all civilizations.
In this chapter you will learn to explore the cards intuitively, opening yourself to your own impressions of the cards — learning what they mean to you. You will learn what you already know about them. Expect to surprise yourself with your perceptions. You know more than you think you do!
Several years from now, the things you write in this book will be an important reminder of who you were when you began your journey of self-discovery; so always keep a pen or pencil immediately available to record the thoughts and insights that emerge as you work with the various layouts and exercises. As you read the questions that follow, note your first response; capture it and write it down, spontaneously and without judgment.
What is Tarot? (Write your own definition as if you were explaining it to a friend.)
What do you feel is the purpose of the Tarot cards?
What do you want to learn from the Tarot?
What are you hoping to gain from this workbook?
Date: _______________________
Tarot Profile
Personal Tarot Symbols for Guidance and Inspiration
Basque anthropologist and Tarot teacher Angeles Arrien teaches a method of determining which of the Major Arcana cards can be used as your individual lifetime cards. In a way, they are similar to astrological sun signs. It is an ideal way to establish your own personal relationship to these ancient archetypal symbols: a way to discover how the Tarot can help you gain personal insight into the significance and purpose of your individual journey.
Your Personality and Soul Cards
Using your birth date you can numerologically calculate your Personality and Soul Numbers. The corresponding Personality Card indicates what you have come into this particular lifetime to learn. The corresponding Soul Card shows your soul purpose through all your lifetimes.
To determine these two cards you add together your month, day, and year of birth like this:
Example:
October 14, 1947 =
14 +1947 1941
Then you add each digit in the resulting number:
1 + 9 + 7 + 1 = 18.
Keep any number from 22 to 1. The resulting number is the Personality Number, which in this case corresponds with the eighteenth Major Arcana card: The Moon.
You then add together 1 + 8 = 9. This is your Soul Number, which in this case corresponds with the ninth Major Arcana card: The Hermit. Your Soul Number must fall between 1 and 9.
In some cases the number will add up to more than 22. Since there are only 22 Major Arcana cards, reduce the number down to 22 or less.
Example:
February 4, 1980 = 2 4 1980 1986
1 + 9 + 8 + 6 = 24. 2 + 4 = 6. In this case the number six (The Lovers) is both your Personality and Soul Card. In this lifetime you are specifically working on your soul purpose. It makes you more focused and directed.
There is one case in which more than two cards can appear. If your first number is 19 you will have three cards.
Example:
November 16, 1954 = 11 16 + 1954
1981 = 19 = 1 + 9 = 10 = 1 + 0 = 1
This is an especially creative path in which all three cards operate as both Personality and Soul Cards. People with this sequence must learn to communicate their individual creative expressions. Their personal identity and sense of self will be inextricably combined with their life and soul purpose. Their ability to relate to others will depend on a harmony of vision and purpose with them.
If your birth date adds up to 22, you have a number of great impulsiveness and great mystery, a fine line to balance. 22 represents 0 (The Fool) and reduces to 4 (The Emperor). While you can consider 4 (The Emperor) to be your Soul Card and 22/0 (The Fool) to be your Personality Card (especially when figuring your Numerological Lessons and Opportunities Cards), I find that in practice they work as a unit.
Figure your own Personality and Soul Cards as indicated below:
Add
The month I was born: __________
The day I was born: __________
The year I was born: __________
Equals: __________
Add each digit ___ + ___ + ___ + ___ = ___
If you have a double-digit answer, add again ___ + ___ =
My personality Number is _______ (the higher of the two numbers you received, but 22 or less). The Major Arcana card corresponding to this number is __________.
My Soul Number is ________ (the single-digit number in your final reduction). The Major Arcana card corresponding to this number is ________________.
(Note exceptions as explained above.)
Your Hidden Factor Card
Along with the numbers obtained directly through addition and reduction, there is frequently another number-and-card concept indirectly connected with your birth date, which I call your Hidden Factor Card. The chart on page 32 will help you determine this number.
Tarot Constellations
A "Tarot Constellation" consists of all the cards with the same prime number(1 through 9), as well as all other Major Arcana cards whose numbers reduce to that prime number. Their energies constellate, or come together, based on similar principles; that is, on vibrational essences of like quality.
Refer back to the February 4, 1980 birthday used as an example. Both Personality and Soul Cards are The Lovers (6). Now look at the Patterns of Personal Destiny Chart and notice that there is one other Major Arcana number listed in this constellation: 15. Since this person did not get a 15 in the calculations, it is a hidden aspect of the birth vibrational essence. This is the Hidden Factor Card: The Devil (15). All the 6's of the Minor Arcana also belong to this Constellation, which is the Constellation of Relatedness and Choice.
If your birthday adds up to a 21, then The World is your Personality Card, The Empress (3) is your Soul Card, and The Hanged Man (12) is your Hidden Factor Card. If your birthday adds up directly to a 3, then The Empress is both your Personality and Soul Card, and The World and The Hanged Man are your Hidden Factor Cards.
The Nighttime Cards
If your birthday adds up to a 14, 15, 16, 17, or 18, then you will have no Hidden Factor Card. However, these numbers are what can be called the "Nighttime Cards." The sun goes down with Temperance (14) and after the Moon (18) it rises as the Sun. The shadow aspects are therefore an integral part of the personality of those whose birthday adds up to a Nighttime Card, but with an added element of naturalness, trust, or fascination regarding the shadow in their lives.
The Hidden Factor as Shadow Card
Your Hidden Factor Card indicates aspects of yourself that you fear, reject, or don't see, and thus it can also be called the Shadow Card. The shadow, a term used and defined by Carl Jung, refers to unknown or little-recognized parts of the personality. These are aspects of yourself that you deny, and thus cannot see directly. However, you will remain sensitive to these qualities and therefore tend to see them in others via the psychological mechanism of "projection."
The Hidden Factor as Teacher Card
The Hidden Factor Card tends to act as your shadow most strongly during your younger years. The planet Saturn takes 28 to 30 years to complete a circuit of the zodiac; that is, to return to where it was in the sky when you were born. This approximate 29-year cycle of Saturn is known as your "Saturn Return." Thus, Saturn — which, in astrology, represents the shadow and which has much the same significance as the hidden factor — has to face itself every 29 years. By the time you are 30, you have probably encountered your greatest shadow issues. Carl Jung declared that the shadow is your greatest teacher, and that only by getting to know your shadow can you achieve individuation.
With people over 30, their Hidden Factor Card operates more obviously as their Teacher Card, because they are ready to work actively and consciously with its principles.
Your Hidden Factor Card becomes your Teacher when you actively strive to develop and understand its qualities in yourself and in the world around you. Then it represents your strengths.
If you are a 19-10-1, you have no Hidden Factor Card; instead, you have the Wheel of Fortune (10) as your Teacher Card. In this pattern, you consciously trust that life brings you the experiences you need to achieve your purpose. At worst, you tend to drift through life, never challenged to use your abundant talents.
My Hidden Factor/Teacher Number(s) is/are: _________________.
The Major Arcana card(s) corresponding to this number(s) is/are: _______________________________________________________.
NOTE: See my book Tarot Constellations: Patterns of Personal Destiny for more specific descriptions of your Lifetime and Year Cards.
Once you have determined these cards, it is important to find out what they mean to you. You can look up meanings of the cards in Appendix A and in other books, but the best way to get in touch with their personal significance is to live with them. Take your Personality, Soul, and Hidden Factor (if applicable) Cards from your Tarot deck and put them up on the wall in your room. Identify with the images and visualize them in meditation.
Another method is to ask one of the images in your Personality, Soul or Hidden Factor Card what you need to learn from it in this lifetime. Write down the first answer you can think of. Ask some more questions and write down your impulsive, uncensored responses. You will get different answers at different periods in your life, so go through this process again at another time. Gradually you will come to understand who The Hermit, or The Empress, or The Moon is to you.
Do this right now in the space provided before you go any further. Spend seven minutes writing steadily every thought that goes through your head while focusing on the images in your card. You can expect to experience some blocks or resistance to continuing past the first comment or so. It is important to go on writing. Remember that humor often helps break through these blocks and perseverance is rewarded with unexpected and more interesting material. Use extra paper if necessary.
My Personality [ ], Soul [ ], or Hidden Factor [ ] Card (check one) is ___________________. Today's date ____________________.
Pick a specific figure in the card to address your question to.
I picked ____________________.
Ask this figure, "What can you teach me about what I need to learn in this lifetime?"
You can keep track of the Personality and Soul Cards of your relatives and friends here:
Your Year Card
You also have a personal Year Card representing the tests, lessons, and experiences you will go through this year.
Add the month and date of your birth to the current year:
Example:
October 14, 2011 10 14 + 2011
2036 = 11 (Wheel of Fortune)
In determining the Year Card, you always keep the highest number under 23. (Remember 22 =The Fool.) The resulting number corresponds with your Year Card.
Add
The month of my birth: __________
The day of my birth: __________
The current year: __________
Equals: __________
For the year 20____ my Year Number is ________, which corresponds with the Major Arcana card ________________.
There are two ways to establish when this "year" begins: 1) January 1 of this year; or 2) on your birthday in this year. In either case, you are dealing with a 12-month period. I find that both systems work and I use them simultaneously. For example, the person born on October 14 would only be in a purely 10 (Wheel of Fortune) year for two and a half months during the overlap from the birthday to the end of the year. During the majority of 2011 The Hermit will be in effect simultaneously with The Wheel of Fortune. From January 2012 to October 14, 2012, The Wheel of Fortune will be interacting with Justice. Each person, by having a birthday at a certain time of the yearly cycle, establishes his or her own rhythm. Personally, I have found the January-to-January time to be of greatest outer significance in helping me to understand the events in my life. The cycle from birthday to birthday seems to be a time of integration during which the new lessons become a part of me. So January to January I experience circumstances that demand that I learn new reactions or directions. Around my birthday I begin integrating my learning, and during the birthday-to-birthday cycle these new awarenesses, which yield new actions, are tried and tested and thus become a natural part of me.
Other cards that are of significance to you are given in the charts below. Fill them in on your Tarot Profile on page 40. Work with each one in meditation and through intuitive writing.
Your Zodiac Card
To determine which card corresponds with your astrological sun sign, check the chart below. (All astrological correspondences follow those of the Order of the Golden Dawn, Crowley, Waite, Paul Foster Case, etc. Substitute your own if they are different.)
Justice
Aries — The Emperor (4)
Taurus — The Hierophant (5)
Gemini — The Lovers (6)
Cancer — The Chariot (7)
Leo — Strength/Lust (11/8)
Virgo — The Hermit (9)
Libra — Justice/Adjustment (8/11)
Scorpio — Death (13)
Sagittarius — Temperance/Art (14)
Capricorn — The Devil (15)
Aquarius — The Star (17)
Pisces — The Moon (18)
My sun sign is _________________________.
My Zodiac Card is _____________________.
Your Numerological Lessons and Opportunities Cards
These are the four Minor Arcana cards (one in each suit), which have the same number as your Soul Number. For instance, if your Soul Number is three, then your Lessons and Opportunities Cards are the Three of Wands, the Three of Cups, the Three of Swords and the Three of Pentacles. If you are a 22/4 then use four. If a 19-10-1, then both one and 10 may apply.
My Soul Number is ____. My four Numerological Lessons and Opportunities Cards are: the ____ of Wands, the ____ of Cups, the____ of Swords, and the ____ of Pentacles.
Your Zodiac Lessons and Opportunities Cards
These are three Minor Arcana cards that correspond with your astrological sun sign. Find your sun sign on the chart below. The three corresponding Tarot cards represent your zodiac lessons and opportunities.
My sun sign is ________________________. My Zodiac Lessons and Opportunities Cards are ____________________, _______________________, and _______________________.
Your Destiny Card
Your Destiny Card is the Minor Arcana card that corresponds with your actual birth date. It is taken from the list above and will be one of your Zodiac Lessons and Opportunities Cards. From this card you can find indications of your fundamental impulses, desires, and reactions as an individual. (See The Pursuit of Destiny in this chapter's booklist.)
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Tarot for Your Self"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Mary K. Greer.
Excerpted by permission of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Foreword,
Preface to the 35th Anniversary Edition,
Preface,
Introduction,
Chapter 1 Getting Acquainted with the Cards,
Chapter 2 The Tarot Journal,
Chapter 3 Reading the Cards,
Chapter 4 The Celtic Cross Spread,
Chapter 5 The Court Card Personalities,
Chapter 6 Permutations: Reading in Depth,
Chapter 7 Dealing with Moods, Emotions, and Relationships,
Chapter 8 Prosperity and Planning,
Chapter 9 Becoming Conscious of What You Create,
Chapter 10 Healing,
Chapter 11 Crystals and Tarot,
Chapter 12 Design and Creativity with the Tarot,
Epilogue,
Appendix A Interpreting the Cards,
The Major Arcana,
The Minor Arcana: Number Cards,
The Minor Arcana: Court Cards,
Appendix B Tarot History and Theory of Origins,
Appendix C Table of Correspondences,
Endnotes,
Bibliography,
Related Subjects
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