Tarot is a map of human possibilities. In fact it is like a circle, I liken it to a wheel of human experience explored through 78 cards. All human experience, all the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of the human condition can be found and explored through the archetypical pictures and symbols on the cards. Archetypical symbols are images that resonate with us, and we understand their meaning on a deep psychological level. For example, a white rose signifies pure familial love, while a red rose signifies passionate love. Think about the image of The Fool: do any possible meanings come to mind? Foolishness, inexperience, naivety, are all some of the descriptions of the Fool. In order to explore what Tarot is, perhaps it is better to start with what it isn't.

The Tarot is not evil, or the work of Satan, and it has nothing to do with 'black magic'. Tarot cannot dictate someone's life to them. Just because I predict that someone will have three children does not mean they must have three children. The Tarot predicts possibility and probability. Ultimately, Tarot teaches us that life is a series of choices, and we must each take personal responsibility for our actions. In the end, every action creates a reaction. Humans have sought counsel from oracles or soothsayers since recorded history. The Tarot is an oracle, a guide, a map of your life's possibilities. People will always want to part the veils of time and reality and see what lies ahead.

I call my work 'Spiritual Tarot'. I like to create a sacred atmosphere by using breath, meditation, creative visualization, candles, bells and incense. When I connect spiritually with a person, the magic happens. I ask them, 'Imagine for a moment that we are in a car together. You are in the driver's seat, you have the key. I am in the passenger seat with a map…the cards. I will probably begin by telling them their present situation, then I go on to examine the past, what led up to where they are now. It can be last week, 20 years previous, or even a previous lifetime! If this information is accurate, truthful, and makes perfect sense to them, I can then go on to accurately predict where they are heading, in other words, the future.

However, this does not mean they have to go there!!!! It is ultimately their choice. The future is not fixed in some hazy far away place; the future is the outcome of their choices made in the present. This is the reason it is even possible to read someone's future. By looking at the past and present, habits and patterns, behavioural conditioning and ancestry, the cards can accurately predict what will happen in the future. Ultimately, because everything I read in the cards comes from the person anyway, it is generally something they already know buried in the recesses of their psyche. Therefore, often I am merely confirming personal facts which the person 'knows' already. People are predictable, creatures of habit; it is a known fact that we do not like change. Just like any other self-regulating organism, we actively resist change. The future is not written in stone, and we can change almost any future we see in the cards. Inevitable situations, those situations which are fated, or destiny that we cannot, we must not change, can be better understand and accepted through Tarot. 'No pain no gain' is intrinsic to accepting life's difficulties.

In addition, I liken the Tarot to a kind of psychotherapy, a counselling session with a twist. The cards can instantly get to the heart of the matter. You may need ten sessions of psychotherapy to find the facts which Tarot unearths in just two minutes! For example, a young woman came to see me about her love life, or rather lack of one. She wanted to know why she couldn't meet a man. The answer to her loneliness came up in two parts. One was the relationship she had with her father, a difficult cold man. While she was growing up he drank too much, stayed out late, and cheated on her mother. He did not show her any affection growing up, and was critical of everything she did. This negatively impacted on all her friendships with men. The second reason lay in her observation of her parent's relationship to each other, more specifically, how her father treated her mother. She had naturally been aware of these difficulties, but was not conscious of just how much those problems had affected her. Her siblings managed to begin and maintain relationships, yet she, being a more sensitive and gentle character, found it impossible to have any success in love. Armed with exercises to work on trust issues, and the reminder to forgive and have compassion and understanding and forgiveness for all the people involved (who are after all only human), she went on to be successful and find love.

 

'All psychics can read everybody all of the time….'

 

Occasionally, like every psychic, I come across someone I cannot read. Old school psychics will make something up, fearing that if they tell the person they cannot read them, they will be terrified that they haven't got a future. Then, distracted by anxiety, if they walk in front of a bus ….the psychic is to blame! (As far as the laws of karma go…). What it means is that for some unknown reason their spirit does not want them to have a reading at this time, and blocks all information. Psychic people can also be quite tricky to read. If they are open to the reading, they get the best of anyone, but if fearful and hesitant, it will all be terribly inaccurate. Not one to make up tall tales, I explain that not every card reader can read everybody all of the time. Generally, I will sense that they may be unwittingly blocking my intuition before we start. It is not a big deal, it is what it is. If for some reason it is not a good time for them to have a reading, it just will not happen.

 

Getting Started

 

It was 1969; I was thirteen, out with my best friend in our small town bookstore in rural New Jersey, when I saw my first deck of Tarot cards, 'fortune telling cards', the French Marseilles deck. This is a card game that can predict the future? How handy! Wouldn't everyone want to be able to do that? We had to have them! Remember, these were the heady days of Glinda the good witch (from the Wizard of Oz) and 'Bewitched' on TV. (I even shared a first name with that particular witch, Elizabeth Montgomery). And what about that old black and white movie 'I Married a Witch' with Veronica Lake…not for centuries had witches gotten such good press, so we also bought a book of love spells, but that is another story… We each bought our own deck.

Inside the pack of cards was a tiny instruction booklet, which was all we needed to get started. I loved that miniature book with its descriptions of all the meanings of each of the 78 cards. There were also instructions for the 'Celtic Cross layout' or card placement and the different meaning of each position. It actually takes the shape of a cross. As young Catholics this was a familiar symbol. Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of learning the 78 cards, we instinctively decided to separate the two parts of the deck and begin learning only the 22 picture cards, the Major Arcana. Leaving out the Minor Arcana or 56 cards (which resemble a normal playing deck) meant we learned the more difficult cards before moving on to the whole deck.

We would sit for hours and hours asking question after question learning all about archetypical imagery and making predictions which actually came true! But it was more than just the predictions; we also found out that the Tarot was like a counsellor, shedding light on situations, and giving real consolation. (I'll never forget, (woe is me), I was grounded from the big basketball game…the cards rightly predicted that although I couldn't go, no one else could either, and didn't it rain so much the match was cancelled?)

We are all here on this earth for a specific purpose. Each of us in our wonderful individuality possess a perfect soul, a spirit which is part of and infinitely connected to God, Goddess, Great Spirit. The soul lives on long after the bag of meat and bones is gone. Everyone's soul is on a journey of learning and discovery and perhaps retribution. Recognizing your purpose, your path in life and how to fulfil it, can be revealed through the Tarot. Life is a great mystery, and must remain so. The gift of the Tarot is a tool to help unlock some of the secrets of the soul, to unleash the potential of the individual to achieve their life's purpose. If your soul has a yearning for this information, I will be there to listen, read the cards, and unleash the spirit within you.

 

All the Best,

E.E.Boyland