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Tarot
Gateway To Tarot
by Bonnie Cehovet
Tarot Master
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I dearly love fall - the cooler weather, the colorful leaves, the sense of life slowing down a tad. I also love the decorating and the baking - each of the fall months has its own "personality", its own way of being. And the first day of each of these months the appropriate decorations go up - All Hallows Eve (Halloween), Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am sure that each of you have your own holidays that you celebrate, and with just as much gusto!
In the process of the decorating, baking and gift buying I "come home" - I touch my roots, I reaffirm who I am as a person. Each celebration is a marker for me in my personal life, of where I have been and how far I have come. It is my practice to also mark holidays and special occasions with ritual and ceremony, usually done by and for myself. Perhaps you celebrate Halloween as a children's holiday, with glowing pumpkins, apple cider and goodies for the trick or treaters (always chocolate goodies at my house!). Or perhaps you celebrate it as the Wiccan Sabat of Samhain, the end of the autumn and the beginning of the Celtic New Year.
Samhain is also a celebration of harvest - for the literal abundant harvest from the fields, but also the harvest of emotional and spiritual abundance in our lives. This is a time to thank our Mother Earth, as her abundance will take us through the cold, barren winter months of her resting time. This is a time of endings and new beginnings, a time of transformation - a time when we can most easily access the spirit world and hear the voices of our ancestors. This is the time of year when the Goddess manifests in her Crone image, and a time of breaking away from old, negative ways of thinking and doing.
We can honor the fall in a very literal way - through the making of soups and breads from earth bound foods - potatoes, carrots, onions and other foods that root themselves in Mother Earth. We decorate our homes in fall colors, with plants, leaves and bright orange pumpkins. (A hint here - I still remember the year that I was oh so very nostalgic, and brought in leaves from the yard as part of a centerpiece. My house bound kitties loved it!) These are wonderful ways to honor natures, and the cycle that is our lives.
This is also a time of year for introspection - for looking at where we are, how far we have come, and where we want to go from here. This is all part of the transformative experience. I am going to discuss two ways that we can use the Tarot in personal ritual to honor this cycle in nature and in our lives. Either method can also be set up as a group ritual, and is a lovely way of bringing people together.
The first way of honoring the season is through the use of a mandala. Mandala's are simply tools that can be used by anyone, regardless of their beliefs. They contain universal symbols, and act as focus points for energy. In the context we are working with, they can be used to heal, to connect with our ancestors, as a way of giving thanks for the abundance around us and as a focus for meditation.They act to enhance the psychic gifts that we all are born with, and they can act as a manner of cleansing and protecting the environment around us.
The mandala can be set up before October 31st, so that it can be meditated on, but my personal preference is to set it up "on" All Hallows Eve (October 31st), and meditate on it during the midnight hours. I would gather together an alter cloth (a pretty cloth of any kind), candles (I would use white for protection and green to honor the abundant harvest), perhaps a gourd or two to mark the season, and a carved pumpkin. What you choose as background for your mandala is up to you. To place nothing but the cards on the alter cloth is perfectly acceptable. This ritual is of you, by you and for you.
I would set aside some time throughout the month of October to see what I wish to give thanks for, what I wish to honor, what I wish to bring into my life. If this is a group project, meditating together and discussing the group goals and intent would energize this mandala. Go through the Tarot, and pick one card each that represents spiritual, physical (the environment), emotional and mental (creative) abundance.
On All Hallows Eve, all should gather at the appointed time. A short meditation will bring the mindset of the Seeker (or group, if this is a group activity) into focus. Set the intent in your minds to give thanks for the abundance in your lives. If you are using candles, light them at this time. You may also wish to play soft background music to set the tone.
In the middle of the alter cloth, set the Tarot card The Moon (to represent the Crone image of the season). You may choose to use another card, but whichever card is used is meant to represent the Goddess in her Crone image. To her right, place the card that has been chosen to represent spiritual abundance in your life, or the life of the group. Underneath the Moon, place the card that has been chosen to represent physical abundance - the abundance that represents your environment. To the left of the Moon, place the card that represents emotional abundance - the influence of your ancestors in your life. Above the Moon, place the card that represents mental abundance - the abundance of creative pursuits in your life.
Look at the cards as a group. Talk about what they mean to you (journal this if you are doing the ritual alone), and then do a meditation on them for as long as you feel is appropriate. At the end of the meditation, give a short prayer of thanks. The alter may be left up for further meditation, or it may be taken down. This is one way of honoring the movement from autumn to winter through Tarot.
The second way that we can use Tarot to honor the change of seasons is through the use of a specific Tarot spread. I am going to present one spread - you may find t hat something else works better for you. Use the spread that is most comfortable, and suits your purposes best. The following spread is one that I conceived specifically for Samhain. It can also be used for a non-Pagan New Year's reading, for a birthday reading (the beginning of the Seeker's New Year), and for times of transformation.
There are two parts to the reading. The first part looks at what is passing out of the Seeker's life, as well as what new directions are coming in. The second part sets the tone for the New Year.
Reading For Samhain:
6
4 5
1 2 3
Part 1:
1. What influences brought the Seeker to this point in their life?
2. What influences are passing from the life of the Seeker?
3. What lessons have been brought to them?
4. What does the Seeker need to let go of?
5. What does the Seeker need to give thanks for?
6. What new influences are coming into the life of the Seeker?
Take the time to meditate on these answers before doing the second part of the reading. If need be, the second part of the reading can be done at another time.
Part 2:
5
4 1 2
3
From a second deck, shuffle and draw five cards. Alternately, you may go through the deck and pick five cards that represent where you want to be in each of the following five areas:
1. This card represents the Seeker, and is affected by all of the cards surrounding it.
2. This card represents the Spiritual energy of the Seeker.
3. This card represents the physical energy of the Seeker - his/her physical environment.
4. This card represents the emotional energy of the Seeker.
5. This card represents the mental energy of the Seeker - where his/her passions and creative nature lie.
These last five cards represent the energies that the Seeker will be working with in the coming year. An alternate way to drawing these cards is to shuffle and draw them in a random manner to determine what energies will be in the Seeker's life if they do nothing. After studying these cards, the Seeker may choose to place cards of their choice to the outside of the original cards. These cards represent the energies that the Seeker wishes to pull in and work with for the next year.
In honor of the New Year (and new energy) that Samhain represents, I am going to begin a short section at the end of each months article that deals with working with the Tarot as a business. You are welcome to ask any questions that you wish about Tarot as a business, and I will answer them here. This month I am going to talk about a value added service.
A value added service is something that literally adds value to your business, but does not cost you a great deal. It acts to bring in new customers, encourage repeat business and gives you a way to "brand" yourself so that word of mouth brings positive thoughts to peoples minds. For me, added value has to be something that I enjoy, and that I want to extend to my clients, or it will never work.
One of the things that I do is to tape my in person readings. (This can also be done for readings that are being sent in the mail - to sent a taped and a printed version of the reading.) The tape itself is inexpensive, and gives your client a chance to go back over their reading and hear what they might not have heard the first time. It allows them to work with their reading to make changes in their lives, and to come to understand their own issues - which is what we as readers want for them!
The tape itself has great value to the client - but it can also have great value for the reader. If you chose to label the tape with the label that comes with it, you don't have much space to be creative in. Go to Office Depot (or any similar store) and look at the labels that they carry. Pick the color that represents not only your business but who you are as a person. These labels have plenty of room to print out your entire name, address, e-mail address, internet site - even a short comment. Now you have something that makes people think of you and what you have to offer when they listen to their tape! If they share it with friends - so much the better!
My best wishes for a Samhain filled with wonder, joy and new beginnings go to each and every one of you.
Please feel free to contact me with thoughts about what you would like to see discussed in this column, and any Tarot related questions that you may have. I would like to see this column as being a mirror for the interests of my readers, and am open to feedback of all types.
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Bonnie Cehovet,
Tarot Master, and Reiki Master/Teacher.
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Bonnie Cehovet is a Tarot Master, professional Tarot reader and Reiki Master/Teacher.
Bonnie has been reading the Tarot professionally for over ten years. She has served in various capacities with the American Tarot Association, including Secretary and Web Assistant For Links. She is currently Certification Director and Secretary for the American Board For Tarot Certification. Bonnie is also a founding member of the World Tarot Network.
Bonnie has had her work published in the ATA newsletter, in Geraldine Amaral's "Celebrating The Tarot" print newsletter, on the World Tarot Network and other internet sites. She is editor for her own monthly newsletter "Gateway To Tarot" (Yahoo Groups).
www.tarot.thecrystalgate.
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