reading with Tarot For Your Self

Yesterday I started working through a new book, Tarot For Your Self by Mary K. Greer.  I thought this workbook would be useful, but I’m only three chapters in and Ms. Greer has already blown me away.  She writes about how to use tarot for self readings, investigating deeper into your (obviously) self.  I can’t rave enough about this book, at least about what I’ve read to this point.

One tool that I found particularly useful is Greer’s breakdown on how to do a three card body/mind/spirit reading.  She includes a two page fill-in-the-blank section guiding the reader into a deep interpretation.  I tried it out last night, and even on the first time out gained a much deeper insight into the individual cards and the greater message.  I decided to do it again this morning, and have copied Greer’s prompts and my thoughts on each below.  Greer’s words are in italics, while my responses are not.

Body: Three of Pentacles Mind: Six of Swords Spirit: High Priestess

Note your first impressions: The expressions on the characters are mostly somber, and everyone seems as if they might be cold.

What do you see?:  On the Three of Pentacles, there are three individuals gathered around what I see as a Christmas tree or a tree of bounty.  They seem pleasant and festive.  The Six of Swords shows a somber woman, dressed ornately in blues with an ornate crown and six swords resting point-down at her sides.  She is releasing a bird, who is singing a lovely song, or a song of love.  The High Priestess card shows a powerful, mysterious woman who is performing some sort of night magic in the woods, with the full moon at her back and serpents and nymphs attending her.

What colors?: Mostly greens and blues.

What does the number on each card mean to you?: The number three symbolizes wholeness, completeness, and the three part God of Christianity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit).  The number six means nothing except that it is three doubled.  The number two also has no particular significance to me, other than it seems to indicate importance.

What human figures or animals do you see?: The Three of Pentacles features three young people (two men and a woman? it’s hard to tell), as well as some flying insects, a bird or a bat, and a few suspicious-looking bunnies.  The Six of Swords features the graceful woman with blonde hair and her bird, while the High Priestess features herself and some insects, snakes, and nymphs or sprites.

What is the environment of each card?: All three cards seem to be outdoors, although the Three of Pentacles has an ornate floor, not something you’d find in nature — perhaps this is in a garden?  The Six of Swords seems to be in a wild, marshy area without any high trees, and the High Priestess is in the woods.  The first card seems to be in the afternoon, the second in the evening, and the third in deep night.

What symbols are there?: On the Three of Pentacles there are pentacles in the sunflowers, diamonds, circles on the floor, and pyramids, spheres, and cubes on the “tree.”  On the Six of Swords I see the swords, as well as flowers, a heart on her dress, and the flying bird.  On the High Priestess card there are eyes, a pomegranate or some other fruit representing fertility, and the snakes.

Can you describe the cards in terms of an emotion?  How do you feel when you look at each of them: Apprehensive? Expectant? Glad? Sad? Angry?:  The Three of Pentacles makes me feel expectant and festive, comforted by companionship.  The Six of Pentacles makes me feel sad and lonely.  The High Priestess’s mystery makes me feel both nervous and intrigued, and perhaps respectful.

Note which way the figures in the cards face.  Write down the relationships you see.: All the figures on the cards are facing forward, unaware of each other.  Only the woman on the Six of Swords looks away, toward the High Priestess, but she is only following the flight of her bird.  The three people on the Three of Pentacles are aware of each other, but it is a closed group.  The High Priestess is watching me.

Now relate each card to its position meaning.

Body: The state of your physical body and the environment.  Habits and automatic responses.  How you ground yourself.  How you’ve been manifesting yourself and things you have produced.  Often the origin or source of the situation.  Feelings.  My Body Card is telling me: . . . that I need companionship.  Not only do I need it in spirit and mind, but I also get physical benefits from intimacy and interaction with friends, loved ones, and the community.  The group of three is inviting me in, and I want to join them.  There is power in community and teamwork, and health for me there, too.

Mind: What you are thinking about and are consciously aware of dealing with.  The way you reason and rationalize things; your attitudes.  The state of mind in which you approach the reading.  My Mind Card is telling me: . . . that I feel sad?  I’m not sure here.  That I need to release things, let things go, and go with the flow?  And that that will be hard, but good?  I’m not sure at all.  The Little White Book says (I only referred to it now, after giving my own interpretations a shot) that this card indicates “recovering from trauma, feeling sad, starting over, coping, moving toward hopeful conditions.”  I can certainly identify with all of these things in relation to my recovery from disordered eating and starting a new way of life and finding ways to cope without abusing food and my body.  I am grieving the “loss” of my old habits, but there is hope in the loss, just as there is hope in the released bird on the card.

Spirit: Your ideals, goals, and aspirations.  The spirit is like your higher self offering new possibilities and advice on how you can work through your problems.  You tend to be drawn toward manifesting what the card indicates.  If the card is negative, you might be blocking or resisting the things your spirit wants you to see.  My Spirit Card is telling me: . . . to embrace mystery, to stop over-thinking everything, to embrace my femininity.  It is no accident, I believe, that the High Priestess’s belly is full of eyes crowding around a scroll.  For quite some time I have hated my belly — because it was fat and flubby, because it was bloated, because it was never exactly what I wanted it to be.  When I was at my skinniest, I completely lost my menstruation due to self-starvation.  This seems to be the ultimate denial of the truth that I am a woman.  Not a girl, and certainly not a boy, but fully female.  The High Priestess is exhorting me to listen to my intuition, and to embrace the miraculous mystery that is my womanhood.  Also, the High Priestess is my life’s Soul Card, and is always particularly significant in any self-reading.

Connect the three cards you drew into one statement.  Can you weave a story, or tell a tale using what you see inthe cards? Write down your own message using the following format:

While my body wants community and relationship, my mind is telling me that I need to let some old unhealthy and isolating habits go, yet my spirit is urging me to delve deep into my self and nurture my intuition and my womanhood.

Whew!  Are you overwhelmed yet?  Don’t worry, this type of interpretation is easier when taken one step at a time.  And Greer doesn’t stop there — after this section, she guides the reader in delving even deeper into the reading, taking on the past/present/future meanings of the three card spread.

I’m loving this book and highly recommend it.  I also recommend checking out Mary K. Greer’s blog.  Yesterday I emailed her through the contact page on the blog with a question, and she responded promptly.  How cool is that? 

What do you think of this guide for interpreting the three card body/mind/spirit thread?  Will you try it out for yourself?

two of wands

Image from Paulina Tarot.

This morning’s draw was the Two of Wands.  When I look at this card, I feel rather repulsed.  The man pictured seems clown-ish, or like a circus ring master, manipulating his audience with showy bravado.  In a word, he makes me uncomfortable.

I wonder if this card represents me: crazy, a off balance, in my own head too much, flighty, worried too much about the exterior.

I think it’s interesting that the two birds on this card are holding their staves in an “X.”  It’s as if they are barring the man from turning around and going back the way he came.  This is true for life, and perhaps especially true for my own, as I spend too much time dwelling on past mistakes and successes instead of living in the here and now.

My view of this card is pretty negative.  Interestingly, the Little White Book’s thoughts on the matter are expressly the opposite of mine.  It says:

The figure boldly walks to the beat of his own drum as he glides upon the clouds.  The bird-formed clouds manifest the power of his will guiding him to shape his future responsibly.

Meanings: Boldness, authority, originality, daring, influence, taking the initiative, seizing the day, straying from the crowd, creating your own style.

Hmm.  Well, that’s not really negative at all, huh?  My takeaway from this draw is to consider if my perspective on life needs reshaping.  I know I have a down-in-the-dumps view of most things, and my main goal each day is to survive until evening.  I already know that this way of living is no life at all.  The Two of Wands is exhorting me to begin my journey toward a new way of living.

What does the Two of Wands say to you?

death

I always thought that drawing the Death card would freak me out.  I figured that if this card ever came up, you’d find me running for the hills.  But today I learned otherwise.  Today I drew the Death card for my single card daily draw as I thought about what I should focus on for the day — and I didn’t scream or faint or do anything of the kind.

As I checked out this card, I thought to myself that, for being called “Death,” there’s a whole lot of life depicted.  There are flowering plants, a healthy bird, a tree filled with creatures and a sense of motion, and an energetic horse.  I don’t feel that this card is about fear or physical death, but instead I see a portrait of action and change.

It turns out that my musings are on par with the Little White Book.  Here’s what the Paulina book says about Death:

The watchful phoenix of immortality finds comfort in experiencing death as transformation.  The tree appears dead, yet is undergoing metamorphosis and renewal of life.  From the heart of the tree come three beings that rest between states.  A winged cat symbolizes the mystery and rebirth that death brings.

Meanings: Transformation, end of a cycle, crossing into a new phase of life, elimination of old patterns, release, extreme change.

So, um, that doesn’t sound very negative to me.  In fact, today’s draw has sent all of my preconceived notions about the Death card crashing down in a rumble-icious heap.  Perhaps that’s the change that’s happening today, or maybe the change has something to do with the Solstice.  Or perhaps today will be the beginning of the end of my food addiction’s rule in my life.  I hope.

(I also hope that the “extreme change” will not take the form of something awful, like my hubby getting in a car accident on today’s snowy roads.  I guess old preconceptions die hard, huh?)

What does Death mean to you?

nine of pentacles

This morning, while focusing on the theme of the coming day, I drew the Nine of Pentacles from my Paulina deck.  My first thought was, “Oh!  It’s a witch!”

Upon closer investigation, I saw that the young woman featured on this card is not wearing a witch’s hat,but instead has a bird perched upon her head.  It seems that she is in some sort of a natural setting, like a forest or a wild garden, with other creatures and plant life surrounding her.  I’m not sure what to make of the rabbit wearing a dress at her feet, but otherwise I found this card to give a very positive vibe.  I get a sense of youth, beauty, natural magic, and peaceful contentment.

It’s also not lost on me that this woman is the only human on the card, and the phrase “single gal in the city” ran through my head as I investigated the card.

My interpretation seems in line with what the Little White Book says.  The LWB does add that this card indicates abundance and fulfillment as well.  This phrase from the book especially resonated with me, “From her hand sprouts a ninth flower, representing the arrival of something desired.”

So what does this all mean for me?  Frankly, I’m not sure.    However, I do know that today my husband had to work, so I’m unexpectedly a “single gal in the city.”  As for abundance or arrival, the one thing I desire more than anything in the universe is healing and abstinence from food addiction.  Perhaps my first successful day of abstinence is today?

In light of this, I now see not only a content woman in the Nine of Pentacles, but also a healthy woman.  She is not bound by addiction, and she does not abuse her body.  She lives in harmony with her Higher Power, her world, and herself.  This is what I want.

king of cups

This morning I returned to my daily draws. I shuffshuffshuffled, and out came the King of Cups. My initial impressions of this card included:

• the king’s calm, benevolent expression
• his empty hand open in acceptance, the cup in the other extended in offering
• the calm blue of his robes
• a sense of invitation
• a sense of grace

Of course, since I’m out of practice, I couldn’t resist checking the “official” interpretation of this card.  Aeclectic Tarot says:

A kinder, gentler, more loving man you’ll never meet. His “kingdom” is his family, and his one dream is to be sitting at the head of a huge table filled with kin, kids, grand kids, serving up food to them all. His family comes first; for them he’ll work, sacrifice, do just about anything; and, yes, like the “Godfather” he will consider doing terrible things to you if you cause grief to any member of that family.

More likely to be a chef, bookstore owner, museum curator, decorator or restorer than a Godfather, this King is a historian, an old fashioned man with quaint, old fashioned ideas. He’ll motivate the neighborhood to restore old buildings, to be more friendly, neighborly and polite. Very like the Queen of Cups, however, he’s too soft and sentimental. No matter how prodigal the son, this father will always bail the kid out. About his family, it is almost impossible to make him see reason.

Putting this together with my impressions, I come away from this draw feeling that the king represents God, a grace-giving, waiting God.  Do I have the courage to go to Him?

dino divination

I’m back!  Thanks for allowing me a blogging break. 

Today I heard about the funniest thing: tarot readings done using dinosaur toys.  Really.

I came across it on Chris Davis’ blog, Lighthearted Press.  Ms. Davis apparently received a reading from Grey Anne, a woman who totes around a suitcase full of plastic dinos and uses them to provide readings.  And, much to Davis’ surprise, she found the reading to be quite insightful.

Grey Anne came up with the notion of Dino Tarot on her own, and offers readings at private parties, community gatherings, and other events.  Most interesting (in my opinion, anyway) is that she does not charge for her readings.  Instead, she suggests a donation of between three and five dollars for an approximately 10 minute reading.  A reader who prioritizes lighthearted interaction over moneymoneymoney?  Now that’s refreshing!

What do you think about the idea of Dino Tarot?  Is it crazy or good clean fun? I’m inclined to think the latter.

two of pentacles

This morning (well, it was early afternoon, but in my mind it still felt like morning, so we’ll just count it as such) I did a single-card draw from my Paulina deck.  As I shuf-shuf-shuffled, I focused on what I should do to best recovery from the recent bad patch of poor eating and depression.  I pulled the energetic Two of Pentacles.

This card pictures a man standing on a galloping horse balancing two glowing pentacles.  He doesn’t seem unhappy, but there is obviously the potential for taking a tumble.  For me, I took this card to mean that I should focus on balancing work and play today (and everyday!), including balancing health/nutrition/fitness with enjoying yummy foods.  No matter what anyone says, I don’t think you can ever “have it all.”

I checked the LWB and its meanings coincided with my own interpretation.  Hurray!  What do you see in the Two of Pentacles?  And how do you think this card ties into the theme of this week (the King of Wands)?