Tarot Life Book 1: Discover Your Destiny

Table of contents :
copyright
Introduction
Changing Your Life
The Key Stones to Tarot Life
The Seven Frequencies of the Planets
Discover Your Destiny Card
Charting Your Destiny Path
Conclusion
Bibliography
Tarosophy Websites & Resources

Citation preview

TAROT LIFE MONTH 1 DISCOVER YOUR DESTINY Marcus Katz & Tali Goodwin

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CONTENTS Introduction Changing Your Life The Key Stones to Tarot Life Discover Your Destiny Card The Destiny Path Method Conclusion Bibliography Websites & Resources

TAROT LIFE: 12 STEPS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE

A linked series of Gated Spreads to be carried out over a full year. Introduction In this series of Kickstart books of Tarosophy teaching, we take a break from the reference work of Tarot Flip, the seventy-eight innovative Tarot methods in Tarot Twist, and the spiritual considerations of Tarot Inspire to offer a unique practice of our work. You are about to change your life with Tarot, and whether you are a newcomer to tarot or experienced reader, you are about to do something totally new. In using what we call a Gated Spread – a linked sequence of tarot readings whose questions are determined by the results of real-world activities – you are going to fundamentally alter the way you experience your life. We have combined here the wisdom of the Tarot with years of practical testing and the latest research in psychology and the biology of willpower, belief, habit and other aspects of our being. This series is designed to be experienced a month at a time, and in the sequence given. You can start at any time, although New Year, your Birthday, or the Spring Equinox are all powerful starting times. This series is accompanied by a closed Facebook group for discussion and questions about your experiences as you make this journey. We look forwards to your engagement of tarot with your life – it is about to become a truly Tarot Life. Marcus Katz, The Tarosophist & Tali Goodwin, TaliTarot

Changing Your Life “When you’re at the beginning, don’t obsess about the middle, because the middle is going to look different once you get there. Just look for a strong beginning and a strong ending and get moving”. Chip & Dan Heath, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard (2010) p. 93. In the practice of change, the most important element is Will. A single-minded direction, focused in laser-like intensity, can carve out a life beyond what you can yet imagine. In this year-long practice, you are going to use the Tarot as a living lens to focus your will, in a series of gates, or spreads, which build and join together to accomplish more than the sum of their parts. However, it also has to be easy and accessible – for some parts of your brain are geared to choose the easiest and most habitual option. So we have designed this practice to be interesting, engaging, and a lot lighter on the surface than the deep changes it will cause. It is also essential to have stepped and possible actions which lead to the desired change – a reason that gated spreads are designed to feed from activity rather than vague questions about an imagined future. The cards will become living signposts and be present in your everyday activity, guiding you and leading you – the very essence of Tarosophy; Tarot to engage life, not escape it. We will also be teaching you some interesting aspects of Tarot along the way, so get ready for something quite special as you follow the spreads every month, taking us from discovering your destiny to the depths of divininty.

Take a moment to think about what you first wanted to be when you were young – whether that was an astronaut or a nurse, an explorer or a lorry driver, a mother, or a businesswoman. What is the essential value of that profession to you – what is at its core? These are the questions we will be asking through the tarot as we progress to create a tarot life for ourselves over the year. You may already wonder which of the Court Cards your early childhood professional ambition belongs to? Did you want to grow up to be a Queen of Cups or a Knight of Swords? These are fundamental patterns written into our very being, and you are about to experience how Tarot can unlock them and open the gates of possibility once more. The Key Stones to Tarot Life “Most of us keep on making blunders, in spite of what we sincerely believe to be our best intentions. What we are really doing, under these conditions, is functioning wrong side out”. Muriel Bruce Hasbrouck, Pursuit of Destiny (1949) pp. 33-4. If you have never read Tarot before, here are some useful keywords with which to build your readings. We will show you how to use these in general readings as well as for Tarot Life itself. If you have any experience in reading tarot, you may like to utilize these particular aspects of the cards, as they may be new to you. We are particularly interested in the way in which the cards describe our personal energies and patterns, so have used the key words provided by Muriel Bruce Hasbrouck (1890 – 1981) in a lesserknown book entitled Pursuit of Destiny, written in 1941. You can find out the details of this book, and others we have referenced, in the bibliography of each pamphlet in this series. Hasbrouck was a student of both Aleister Crowley and Paul Foster Case and her work is dedicated to these two and “Pulch”, Charles

Lazenby – who was associated with the “ten-day cycle” concept of her book. Hasbrouck also had correspondence with Israel Regardie, who provided her Book T Tarot materials and Kabbalah information from the Golden Dawn. She further developed a model of Space-Time Forecasting, which she and her husband utilized to provide stock market predictions. Interestingly, her idea of 36-year cycles of financial turmoil, which she wrote about in the 1970’s, would have planted the next turbulent time in 2009, i.e. the exact middle of the “credit crunch” crisis. As we can now see that happened, we suggest with only a little tongue-in-cheek that we start preparing for 2045, the next financial upheaval predicted in this model. So here are Hasbrouck’s correspondences and key-words, to which we have added Court Cards and Aces for convenience. These were not necessary in her book as it dealt with the Decans only. We have also added keywords for the Majors for beginners who may not have Tarot Flip, which gives keywords for all cards based on a survey of hundreds of experienced readers. The Qualities of the Four Elements/Suits Pentacles/Earth Swords/Air Cups/Water Wands/Fire

Practical Sense Mentality (Thinking) Flexibility (Emotions) Dynamic Energy (Imagination)

The Ten Numbers/Potentials Ace Two Three Four

Inspiration, Innovation, Originality Initiative, Adaptability, Uncertainty Determination, Intensity, pride Stability, order, restriction.

Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten

Activity, power, opposition. Ambition, leadership, egocentricity. Versatility, dominance, fear. Sagacity, prudence, shortsightedness. Forcefulness, capability, obstinacy. Persistence, conservatism, self-will.

The Seven Frequencies of the Planets Mars Sun Venus Mercury Moon Saturn Jupiter

desire for action; energy, impulsiveness. desire to achieve; ambition, pride. desire to create; productivity, extravagance. desire to reason; sagacity, cunning. desire for change; adaptability, instability. desire to integrate; constructiveness, intensity. desire to stabilize; order, caution.

The Four Powers/Energies of the Courts Pages Knights Queens Kings

Crystallizing, Absorbing, Counterbalancing Active, Manifesting Receptive, Fermenting, Transmitting, Enduring Swift, Violent, Transient, Rushing

If you are using a Thoth deck or similar, you may find these cards are labeled in order as above as Princess, Prince, Queen and Knight. We have used the keywords from Crowley in this case to accord with our theme of will-power and the structure from which Hasbrouck was also working. The Keywords for the Major Arcana

I: Magician - Success II: High Priestess - Revelation III: Empress - Cultivation IV: Emperor - Endurance V: Hierophant - Teaching VI: Lovers - Union VII: Chariot - Momentum VIII: Strength - Action IX: Hermit -Solitude X: Wheel - Movement XI: Justice - Accuracy XII: Hanged Man - Surrender XIII: Death - Life XIV: Temperance - Assessment XV: Devil - Withholding XVI: Blasted Tower - Acceleration XVII: Star - Enlightenment XVIII: Moon - Ignorance XIX: Sun - Demonstration XX: Last Judgment - Awakening XXI: World - Beginning 0: Fool - Frivolity A Simple Method for Beginners Throughout the year, you may want to carry out readings for yourself or others. Here is a simple method for general purposes – and we will provide other methods as you progress during the year. Shuffle the deck and select out three cards. Lay these face up from right to left. The first card on your left is what will happen given no

changes to the situation; the second (middle) card indicates something the tarot is telling you that you could do to make changes; the third card on your right is what will happen if you make those changes. That is to say: 1. What Will Happen. 2. What You Can Do. 3. What Will Change. This spread is very suitable for the keywords we are using in Tarot Life and for general readings. Here is an example reading of this spread. Should I do anything about X who may cause me trouble? 1. What Will Happen – King of Wands 2. What You Can Do – 6 of Swords 3. What Will Change – V The Hierophant Here we immediately see that what will happen is that the energy will remain combustive but however be short-lived; a violent and expressive aggression which comes to nothing permanent. What can be done, is balanced reason, movement and exploration. Perhaps expose the situation in clear light whilst moving steadily forward oneself. It should also be seen in the Waite-Smith image of this card that I must tale everyone else with me! If I take the action – which seems advised in this case – the Hierophant will emerge. I will maintain a teaching position and preserve a tradition, perhaps even a sacred trust. This spread can be very useful and very practical. It ensures that one either takes action or not, but even if not, it is a willed decision.

Discover Your Destiny Card We begin our Tarot Life with discovering our destiny card. This is the card which is linked with your birth date. In Astrology, there is a concept known as Decans which splits the year into 36 sets of 10 degrees, making a full circle of 360 degrees. Through the magic of correspondence, we can associate the Tarot cards of the Minors, from Two to Ten in each of the four suits (9 cards in 4 suits is 36 cards) to each of the 36 Decans. We then look at which Decan your birth falls into and discover the associated Tarot card. Whilst this is reasonably common knowledge in tarot circles (see Who Are You in the Tarot in the bibliography) we here give it a new twist and particularly use the aspect of personal will within the cards – to turn your fate into your destiny. Sidenote to advanced students: We have used the Chaldean Decans. The 36 Decans: Zodiacal Signs and Planets Aries 1 Aries 2 Aries 3 Taurus 1 Taurus 2 Taurus 3 Gemini 1 Gemini 2 Gemini 3 Cancer 1 Cancer 2 Cancer 3 Leo 1 Leo 2

Mars Sun Venus Mercury Moon Saturn Jupiter Mars Sun Venus Mercury Moon Saturn Jupiter

21st - 30th March 31st March - 9th April 10th - 20th April 21st - 30th April 1st - 10th May 11th - 21st May 22nd - 31st May 1st - 10th June 11th - 21st June 22nd June - 1st July 2nd - 12th July 13th - 22nd July 23rd July - 1st August 2nd - 12th August

Leo 3 Virgo 1 Virgo 2 Virgo 3 Libra 1 Libra 2 Libra 3 Scorpio 1 Scorpio 2 Scorpio 3 Sagittarius 1 Sagittarius 2 Sagittarius 3 Capricorn 1 Capricorn 2 Capricorn 3 Aquarius 1 Aquarius 2 Aquarius 3 Pisces 1 Pisces 2 Pisces 3

Mars Sun

13th - 23rd August 24th August September Venus 4th - 13th September Mercury 14th - 22nd September Moon 23rd September October Saturn 4th - 13th October Jupiter 14th - 23rd October Mars 24th October November Sun 3rd - 12th November Venus 13th - 22nd November Mercury 23rd November December Moon 3rd - 12th December

3rd

3rd

2nd

2nd

Saturn

13th - 21st December

Jupiter

22nd - 31st December

Mars

1st - 10th January

Sun

11th - 20th January

Venus Mercury Moon Saturn Jupiter Mars

21st - 29th January 30th January - 8th February 9th - 18th February 19th - 29th February 1st - 10th March 11th - 20th March

The 36 Decans: Tarot Card Correspondences

21st - 30th March 31st March - 9th April 10th - 20th April 21st - 30th April 1st - 10th May 11th - 21st May 22nd - 31st May 1st - 10th June 11th - 21st June 22nd June - 1st July 2nd - 12th July 13th - 22nd July 23rd July - 1st August 2nd - 12th August 13th - 23rd August 24th August 3rd September 4th - 13th September 14th - 22nd September 23rd September - 3rd October 4th - 13th October 14th - 23rd October 24th October - 2nd November 3rd - 12th November 13th - 22nd November 23rd November - 2nd December 3rd - 12th December 13th - 21st December 22nd - 31st December 1st - 10th January

2 of Wands 3 of Wands 4 of Wands 5 of Pentacles 6 of Pentacles 7 of Pentacles 8 of Swords 9 of Swords 10 of Swords 2 of Cups 3 of Cups 4 of Cups 5 of Wands 6 of Wands 7 of Wands 8 of Pentacles 9 of Pentacles 10 of Pentacles 2 of Swords 3 of Swords 4 of Swords 5 of Cups 6 of Cups 7 of Cups 8 of Wands 9 of Wands 10 of Wands 2 of Pentacles 3 of Pentacles

11th - 20th January 21st - 29th January 30th January February 9th - 18th February 19th - 29th February 1st - 10th March 11th - 20th March

4 of Pentacles 5 of Swords 8th 6 of Swords 7 of Swords 8 of Cups 9 of Cups 10 of Cups

Based on these tables you can now derive your Decan (Zodiacal + Planet) and corresponding Tarot card. As an example, if you were born January 27th, you would be Decan Aquarius 1/Venus and your Decan Card the 5 of Swords. If you were born on the start/end date of a particular Decan, it may be possible that you fall into the preceding or following Decan. Work through the characteristics/cards of both and judge which is more applicable – you will be clearly in one Decan. If I were born on 31st May, it could be that I am in Gemini 1 or Gemini 2, for example. I might discover that actually the card for Gemini 2, the 9 of Swords, fits better than the preceding 8 of Swords. The Assessment To assess what your correspondences create as a key-stone for your destiny in life, simply place the key-words for your Decan Card together as follows. If you were born on the 23rd of June for example, you would hold the 2 of Cups as your Destiny card. This is read as 2 + Cups, so 2 holds the potentials of; Initiative, Adaptability, Uncertainty and Cups is the Quality of Flexibility and Emotions. Your Frequency is then determined by the planet of the Decan, in this above case, Venus; the desire to create; leading to productivity, and possible extravagance.

Taking these all together, we would see your destiny as extremely creative, taking emotional initiative and adapting to whatever situations you find in life. You may be prone to uncertainty and extravagance in overdoing things when you are unsure. Charting Your Destiny Path In Tarot Life, the twelve monthly steps are based on the twelve zodiacal principles and their corresponding tarot cards. This first step corresponds to Aries and the tarot card of the Emperor. In our Tarot Flip book, we saw the Emperor as Power and Endurance, qualities of Will. However, the Aries energy is basically all “do” and no “direction”. It is like the horns of the Ram pointed forward to butt into anything in its way – although the eyes of the ram are now down to the ground and it cannot see where it is going! So we take these concepts together, with the latest research into successful planning and action, sprinkle a little bit of Thelema (the Greek for “Will” and a philosophy of life championed by the notorious occultist Aleister Crowley) onto the mix, and produce this simple but powerful method. You should practice this method for one month, as it will build up the keystone for following Tarot Life practices. The Destiny Path You will require a deck not used for any other purpose during the month for this method. Any deck can be used, although recommended is a Thoth deck, a Liber T: Stars Eternal or any deck which is direct and straightforward to you personally. 1. Take your Decan Destiny Card out of your pack. Place this someone where you will have space over the month, such as a table or floor area not likely to be disturbed. Place it at the far end away

from you, leaving space below it. This is the card to which we will continually aim over the month. If this is impractical, simply follow the instructions with cards, but draw them as they build up on a single sheet of paper, so you do not have to leave your cards out. 2. Consider your Destiny Card every morning. Research its qualities, perhaps, or allow your intuition to consider the image of the card. Take this card and consolidate it as representing your destiny; your true position and direction in life. 3. At the end of each day, for one month, sit again in front of your card and shuffle the rest of the deck. Reflect on the day and pick two events that represent the most extremes of the “destiny scale”; when you felt most as if what you were doing was what you were uniquely and absolutely born to do, and at the other end of the scale, a moment you would rather have been doing anything else than that particular thing. 4. Take two cards from the deck and place them side-by-side. These two cards give you a message about how you can better meet your destiny the following day; the one on the left signifies how you can avoid being stuck in what is away from your path, and on the right, how you can better gravitate to what is closer to your path. 5. Now for the literal twist in this method. Angle the card on the left to whatever degree you feel that day you were away from your destiny. If for example, you felt stuck in a dead-end job and it had little to do with your skills or ambitions, you would angle the card almost 90 degrees to the left, setting it on its side. If you felt that you had actually managed to walk away from something that was not your path, and done it really well, you would leave the card straight. Similarly, for the right-hand card, do the same, angling it to the right to the extent that you feel you missed out on what felt right that day. Perhaps you turned down something that now feels as if it were a

calling, so you would angle the card at a 45 degree angle, or even a total 90 degree right angle if it were a big miss. If, however, you feel that you stuck to what felt right to your destiny card and calling during the day, you would leave the card straight. Now each day, you are going to repeat this exercise, however, you must lay the next pair of cards to follow the previous ones – life is a continual linked series of actions, and one leads to another. We do not give ourselves the luxury of an imagined reset button in Tarot Life. As you progress, either laying down the cards and leaving them, or angling the pair of the day and drawing it onto your sheet, you will build up a pattern – your destiny path.

If you are pulling a pair of cards and drawing their positions on a sheet of paper, do not return the cards to the pile, leave them separate until the month is over and you can return your deck to one piece. Your destiny path is not just something waiting for you, it is something you are building right now and every moment. This method makes that clear to you and establishes the first lens by which we start to see our Tarot Life in full.

The aim is obviously to create a perfectly straight pillar of two parallel lines. The worst situation would be two coiling spirals of tilted cards, out-of-control and looking like the swirls on the two horns of a ram. In performing this exercise every day for your first month of the Tarot Life, you will gently reprogram your brain and awareness to notice your calling more in every moment. Whether you are truly aware of your calling does not yet matter – we will come to this later. First we establish our keystone, and make steps to notice it and call it to our awareness. Important Note: You will need to record the cards drawn and how they were laid out for further work later in Tarot Life. The pairs of cards for each day can be read with the keywords we have provided here or your usual reading method. If you are an absolute beginner you may like our beginners booklet, Tarot Flip, to provide interpretations derived from hundreds of experienced readers. You can also join the Tarot Life Facebook group to ask questions and discuss this exercise. A link is given in the appendix. An Example Destiny Path Here are the first few days of a Destiny Path towards the Destiny Card of the 2 of Cups as given in the previous example. On Day 1 I did nothing creative or innovative as I kept getting into disagreements at work which came to nothing in the end. I contemplate the day whilst looking at my Destiny Card and shuffling the rest of the deck. I pull two cards and turn my left-hand card on its side completely – as I have not made a promising start. As I did then spend some time in the evening doing some painting, which whilst domestic had some

aspect of creativity, I place the right-hand card just slightly tilted – almost straight. The left-hand card is the Empress and the right-hand card is the 8 of Wands. This leads me to believe that I must cultivate a better attitude to stay away from things that lead me away from my path. I should look to grow my own metaphorical garden and not go trying to weed out others. I resolve the following day to attend only to what I can develop or will lead to something being cultivated. The 8 of Wands suggests that tomorrow I should be far more active and mobile with regard to pursuing my callings – I should communicate, travel, send out signals. I resolve to send at least one email with regard to a trip I have been thinking of taking to an art gallery in the next state. On Day 2, I consider my 2 of Cups in the morning and set off with the advice of the Empress and the 8 of Wands. I have a far better day – in fact, with the time I suddenly have by not interfering with other people’s business, I discover in conversation with a colleague that she also is interested in the gallery exhibition. I send the email not only for the exhibition, but to the local art society of which my colleague told me about, to arrange a group trip. This is far more what I feel is my calling. When I get home I cannot wait to lay out the cards as I feel they can both be laid out straight and narrow. The two cards are the 5 of Swords and the Queen of Wands. I look these up in my Keywords and find that the 5 of Swords is Activity and Power + Mentality. I resolve the next day to do some serious thinking and not leap into any decision without such activity. The card suggests this will pull me away from my path tomorrow. Likewise for the Queen of Wands, I see that I am advised to be receptive in my imagination tomorrow. This will lead me closer to my destiny, if I spend time musing and contemplating. This fits well with the other card.

Each day the pair of cards will advise for the following day, whilst creating a record of how you are keeping on the straight and narrow towards your destiny card. When you have completed a month you should have at most 31 pairs of cards in your journal and a good shape to your path. You will then be ready to take the next gate, which can only be unlocked by the results of having completed this first gate.

Conclusion In the following eleven booklets in this series, we will build on our progress in the first month, next discovering how to remove the blocks that may surface along the way. It is important to the process that you undertake the exercises, and we have an optional Facebook group listed in the appendix where you can share and discuss your experiences, ask questions and gain support. We have also provided in the final section a list of reading materials and website resources to discover more in the very best of Tarot and Tarosophy®. In this series, released monthly over 2013: 1. Discover Your Destiny 2. Remove The Blocks 3. Make Decisions Better 4. Enter the Flow 5. Ride the Lion 6. Connect to Service 7. Find Your Equality 8. Die To Your Old Self 9. Entering Unity 10. Becoming the Real 11. Your Keys to Freedom 12. The Depth of Divinity What Follows Next Month In next month’s Tarot Life, we deal with our blocks, thresholds and buffers – all the dwellers that come to attention when we try and move forward in a straight line. First we awake them, by attempting to steer our course straight, then we incorporate and utilize them, as we will see in the next volume, Remove the Blocks.

Bibliography Assagiolo, Roberto, The Act of Will. Wellingborough: Turnstone Press, 1984. Baumeister, Roy F. & Tierney, John, Willpower: Rediscovering Our Greatest Strength. London: Allen Lane, 2011. Heath, Chip & Dan, Switch: How To Change Things When Change is Hard. London: Random House Business Books, 2011. Hasbrouck, Muriel Bruce, Pursuit of Destiny. London: John Gifford Ltd, 1949. McGonigal, Kelly, The Willpower Instinct. New York: Avery, 2012. On The Decans, see: http://www.bendykes.com/articles/decans.php