Six

Facing the Outside World: Tarot for Engaging Life

When we were preparing this book, Marcus went out for a walk with his wife to run through the “Tarot Walk” exercise you will find in this chapter. It had been several years since he had performed it, so he was keen to revisit it.

He chose the World card to explore, and started the walk from the local lakeside where a large carved hand, bowled to collect leaves and natural items, is placed. He looked around from that location for something “world-like” and saw light glinting on dew on a leaf across the path. This attracted his attention, so he moved closer.

He looked around again for something “world-related” and saw a tree that looked like it was very ancient. He walked to that tree and repeated the process until he found himself back on the path.

When he turned to look for the next feature, he saw something glinting at eye level in a tree nearby. He walked toward it and was astonished to see a silver pentagram, no bigger than a quarter dollar, hanging from the tree. It was an earring. Marcus assumed that it had fallen on the path, and someone had discovered it and hung it in the tree in case its owner came looking for it. However, finding this ancient symbol hanging on a tree in the middle of nowhere was a remarkable ending to his shamanic walk.

The moral of this story is that the magic of the cards is built into the world and its events.

While the majority of this book is about reading for other people, in this chapter we will consider our own relationship with the Universe, and how tarot can deepen that relationship. We will look at different methods of using tarot to broaden your horizons, to get you thinking outside of the box, and to look at the world in different ways.

These methods are derived from shamanism, as well as other sources, so you may have encountered them or studied them in other contexts. If this is the case, you may wish to explore these methods afresh so that tarot can throw new light on your previous experiences.

These approaches include examples of physical, elemental, animal, planetary, and zodiacal applications of tarot to daily life, and you are encouraged to discover your own applications based on those given here.

The Tarot Walk

In this first experience, you will be brought face to face with the hidden archetypal forces of the Universe through the twenty-two major arcana cards. Each time you practice it, you will be building up a set of living correspondences that will further your understanding of the deck, as well as your ability to offer guidance to others through your readings.

You can easily spend from an hour or two to half a day on this method, so allow plenty of time. You’ll need a notepad and pen (or an iPad or similar device) and suitable clothing for the outdoor conditions, as you’re about to go out and about. However, you can start this exercise from wherever you wish.

The Magician
(The Universal Tarot)

We’ll start with the Magician card as our guide. Take it from your deck and look around your present location, be it indoors or out. Look for whatever feels or seems closest to the nature of the Magician. This can be obvious or subtle; for example, you might see a t-shirt with “Magic” written on it, or a pen, which is appropriate for the Magician as a scribe or communicator.

Walk to the location of the object, make a note of it, and then have a look around from this anew location (even if it’s only a few steps away). Again, look for something that reminds you of the Magician. This might be, for instance, a stick shaped like a wand that you can now see out your window. Make your way to that object, make a note of it, and then do the same thing again.

You can perform the walk for a set amount of time, or until you come across an object that you feel truly represents the nature of the card. You can keep going until you find a natural object you can take from its location easily, or you can discover and purchase a stone, a book, or an item of clothing in a shop. If you like, you can add the items from your tarot walks to your altar. If you are artistic, you can create a new version of the card from the components of your journey.

Each time you return to the Tarot Walk exercise, choose a different major arcana card to explore. Eventually, you will create your own table of correspondences for each of them. Furthermore, when you next perform a reading and a major arcana card shows up, you will have a more intimate relationship with the energy of the card and a more personal experience of the manner in which these twenty-two archetypal energies appear in our daily life.

Here are some of the qualities and objects or locations you might associate with each card.

Card	Qualities of the Card	Associated Objects and Locations
0: The Fool	Comedy, freedom, weirdness, the unusual	A toy clown, a strange piece of music, a key, a small dog
1: The Magician	Magic, invention, trickery, communication	A wand, a pen, a satellite dish, a communications cable
2: The High Priestess	Mystery, revelation, secrets, the veil between worlds	A curtain, a border crossing, objects associated with the occult, a book, tall pillars
3: The Empress	Growth, cultivation, nature, motherhood, harvest	A pregnant woman, a nest, a garden

4: The Emperor	Fatherhood, rulership, law, control	A policeman, a crown, a sign saying “do not …”
5: The Hierophant	Religion, values, tradition, teaching	A library, a Bible, a church, a school, a cross
6: The Lovers	Choices, love, inspiration	A pair of lovers or birds, a Rose Key, a T-shaped junction in the road, two paths splitting in a wood, a romantic card
7: The Chariot	Balanced movement and stillness, being in the flow	A toy car, a vehicle or cart, a spinning top or gyroscope, a sphinx
8: Strength	Right relationship, harmony, balance, perfected control	A lion, a pulley held in balance, a strong person, somebody standing up for themselves
9: The Hermit	Guidance, illumination, teaching by example	A lamp, a staff, a high path, a sign, a lighthouse

10: The Wheel of Fortune	Cause/effect, cycles, chance, changes in rotation	A wheel, a bicycle, an elevator, games of chance
11: Justice	Balance, law, rightness	Scales, a sword, a blindfold, a courthouse, an attorney
12: The Hanged Man	Suspension, higher values, sacrifice	A gent’s tie, a spider in a web, dew hanging on a tree
13: Death	Transformation, change, elimination	A coal in a fire, a dead insect, a fossil, something broken made into something new
14: Temperance	Tempering, patience, combination	A cake, a recipe, a cocktail
15: The Devil	Attachment, ignorance, reversed or blinded perception	A bicycle lock and chain, a padlock, a trailer hitched to a vehicle, a goat or other animal with horns

16: The Tower	Sudden change, acceleration	Lightning, a bright flash or sudden shock, a practical joke, a ruined building
17: The Star	Vision, hope, a guide	A star in any form, a twinkle of light in a mirror
18: The Moon	Fear, illusion, dreams, the unconscious	An incense-filled room, a piece of silver, a sign saying “dream”
19: The Sun	Expansion, light, success	The sun, a piece of gold, a smiling face
20: Judgement	Decision, calling, resurrection	An unexpected call or visit, a party invitation
21: The World	Synthesis, wholeness, completion	Nature, all four elements, the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle

The Tarot by Wind and Water

When reading for yourself, it can be difficult to know whether you are over-interpreting a card or a spread to suit your own preconceptions. In this method, we allow the world of the elements to assist us.

The Tarot by Wind

You will require ten helium balloons, easily available from most party supply shops, ten stamped postcards, and a “throwaway” tarot deck (perhaps a mini-deck), since you may never get all the cards back. You may also use photocopies of the tarot cards rather than the actual cards.

Take the deck you’ll be using and shuffle whilst asking your question. Lay out ten cards in the Celtic Cross pattern.

The Celtic Cross Spread

Number the cards in permanent marker on their backs, and then fasten one to each of the ten balloons. Write on all ten postcards your name and address, and a request to return the postcard (not the tarot card) with WHERE the balloon was found, and any message from the finder with regard to the tarot card. Fasten the postcards to the balloons. Await a good breeze and then release the balloons to the sky and to the wind.

The returned cards can be read in the sequence they are returned, or by their original positions on the Celtic Cross, and with additional interpretations based on their found locations or written response from the finder.

If you are wary of sending out tarot cards, you can also perform this method by choosing ten postcard images that are close to the ten tarot cards you have picked, fastening them to the balloons, and asking what the image means to the finder.21

The Tarot by Water

You can use the element of water in a similar way by placing the cards in bottles and casting them into the sea or a swiftly flowing river or stream.

The Tarot Shaman’s Path

Whilst there is no specific connection between shamanism and tarot, many of the methods and approaches found in shamanistic practice can be applied to deepen our experience of the cards in a profound and practical way.

This method uses the concept of gated spreads, introduced in Tarosophy. These are spreads done over a period of days, where each spread is reliant not only upon the previous spread, but also on actions carried out in real life (and arising results), which feed into the next spread. Thus a series of “gates” is created, through which the activity of life is channelled. As the cards represent fundamental patterns in life, this channelling can produce profound, life-changing effects. It is a way of experiencing firsthand that the world is indeed bound by invisible knots.

In this activity, we are going to follow the path of the tarot shaman into the animal symbolism of tarot and engage with the life force surrounding us. This may be a powerful week for you; whilst writing this, Marcus looked out the library window and saw a deer staring back at him. You may also like to record your dreams during this time, since they may become more vivid.

In The Teachings of Don Juan, Carlos Castaneda gives an account of the requirements of the shaman, the Person of Knowledge. The shaman must:

1. Be learned

2. Be of unbending intent

3. Be clear of mind

4. Be laborious

5. Be a warrior

6. Be unceasing

7. Possess an ally

The Tarot cards of the Magician, the Chariot, the Hermit, Strength, the Emperor, and the Wheel of Fortune symbolise the archetypal qualities of the first six requirements, but we also need to locate our ally. To do so, we must encounter the Dweller on the Threshold—the Guardian of the Gate.

You may note in your journal which cards you personally see associated with the first six qualities.

Gate 1: The Guardian of the Gate Spread

Our first gated spread tells us what we must overcome to go on to the next gate; it is a warrior’s challenge. We cannot even begin to approach the mysteries unless we prove ourselves worthy.

Take a deck and shuffle, considering everything that frightens you, then lay out three cards in a line (vertical or horizontal) as follows:

1. What is the Guardian?

2. How must I fight?

3. What is the reward?

Consider how these cards might relate to your life over the next day. What is the nature of your fear that has been divined by the first card? What is the manner in which you must overcome this fear, as indicated by the second card? And what does the third card suggest you will gain as a reward?

• Guardian: The Tower
• Fight: Ace of Swords
• Reward: The Empress

In this example, the Guardian card could be read as a fear of disruption and sudden failure. The Fight card could be read as the need to hold fast to one’s ideas, while the Reward card could be read as an increase in personal growth (or creativity) if this challenge is met. Some area of your life will clearly relate to the message of these three cards.

Next, and most importantly, decide on a definite action you will take in the next twenty-four hours that will satisfy the requirements of this gate. Don’t feel you need to do something dramatic—unless, of course, you feel called to do so.

So to continue with our example, tomorrow we will try to do something that relates to the world of ideas. We’ll overturn an expectation and overcome a barrier by starting to write an essay we have been prevaricating over. It’s not much of a challenge in terms of being a warrior, but it must be done. The Ace of Swords cuts through our procrastination, and our reward will surely be an exceptionally creative piece of writing!

You are encouraged to share your decisions, actions, and experiences on our tarot forum. We have found that sharing often reveals profound similarities and interesting differences in the lives of those participating.

Gate 2: The Journey

Having overcome the Guardian, next we’ll go on a journey to prepare ourselves to meet our animal guide. Of course, we must travel, but we must also do so with a relaxed attitude—the world is closer to us than we imagine. There is a great scene in a book based on a reimagining of Anglo-Saxon shamanism, The Way of Wyrd by Brian Bates, where the shaman is taking a student through an exercise. He says, “Relax! You are tying yourself in knots with tension. Relax and your Guardian Spirit will cut through the fog of your life like a sunbeam.” He then jokes that the student must have been chosen by an owl guardian, since he is looking so wide-eyed and intent! Humour is an important part of shamanistic training, as is trickery. So on our second day on the path of the tarot shaman, our shaman will take us on a dance…

Yesterday our first gated spread told us what we must overcome to make progress, and we acted upon this divination today. By now you will have received the reward indicated by the spread, or at least deepened your appreciation of what holds you back from progress.

For the second gated spread, you will need your deck and a small notebook and pen or pencil, plus suitable clothing for the weather conditions and environment in which you are situated, because you may be going outside.

Shuffle your deck considering all the journeys you have been upon—literal or metaphorical. Consider what you learnt, who you saw, what you recall. When you are ready, stop shuffling and take the top card from your deck. We do not use reversals (upside-down cards) in this particular spread.22

Make a note of the card in your notepad, and perhaps a brief note (to be expanded later) as to what it tells you about journeys. For example, we pulled the Knight of Cups from Roxi Sim’s Pearls of Wisdom deck. The Knight tells us that the journey should always be full of delight, and not to miss the opportunity to go on detours to interesting places along the way!

Now, make a journey—even if it is only into another room in the house, or outside, based on the card you drew. For instance, we chose to go into the kitchen, because of its association with the suit of cups. When you are in that new location, choose the next card, and do the same as before. We got the Knight of Swords, which says we must be prepared for a journey and prepared to cut through things quickly. So we simply walked across to the drawers and picked out a small, blunt knife.

Continue to work through the cards, taking either small steps around your house and yard, or actually walking or driving to farther destinations, and picking up items along the way.

Stop when you reach a place or lesson from the cards that just feels right. (If you are in any doubt, it is not the place.) Make a note of the final card you received that brought you to this place or taught you this particular lesson about journeying. You may have pulled three cards and not left your house, or you may have pulled thirty cards and travelled a hundred miles in the day. It is your journey, and you will know what’s right for you. You can read the accumulated cards as a spread, if you wish, or simply treat them as signposts on your journey.

Once you are at this end place or point, consider how far you have come since you started the journey. Consider what you learnt yesterday about your fears and what needed to be overcome. Now find your strength renewed in this place, which is a “power spot” as it is called in the works of Carlos Castaneda, who wrote about the Yaqui shaman Don Juan. Once you have completed this journey, you may return to this spot again, or it may just be a one-off visit. You can even make a map of the cards and the locations through which you have journeyed. We call this a geographical spread.

The symbolism of tarot is populated with animals—birds, reptiles, fish, and mammals, real and imaginary. A wonderful example of how these are used as complex symbols is the exquisitely named article,
“The Aviary at the Gates of Heaven,” which discusses the birds used on the Empress card in the Thoth Tarot. In the shamanic traditions, animals are seen as messengers and guides—spirits in their own right. Whilst we will examine this symbolism more tomorrow, today we are going to do a very simple exercise to summon our animal guide.

In this next gate, having proven ourselves and embarked on a journey, we will take our sacred place and summon a spirit of an animal from our tarot deck. First, we must have the animal choose us by consulting with what the Sufis call the Counsel.

Gate 3: The Summoning

Go through your deck and select out all the cards that have an animal on them. If you are using a pagan deck or animal oracle deck, this may be all of the cards! On the other hand, if your deck has no animals at all, please select an alternative deck.

Shuffle, and place these cards face-down about you, on the floor, in any pattern—perhaps a circle. Take any natural object, such as a crystal, stick, or stone, and place it at the centre of the spread.

Begin to move the object around, feeling it respond to the cards. When your sensation of calling or pulling or knowing is strongest, place the object upon that card. Leave it there. Do not look at the card. Put the other cards away.

Now spend the day wondering what the spirit of the card is. Try to perceive its calling or summoning in the activities of the day. For example, are you noticing squirrels everywhere you go? Or did a certain type of bird land on your windowsill? Encounters like these may be clues.

At the end of the day, you can write down your experiences and look at the card, comparing your impressions with the animal you see on the card.

Now we approach the last stages of our first experience of tarot shamanism. Today we are going to create a special sigil—magical symbol—to focus the energy of our animal. A spirit catcher is in some ways similar to a veve in Voodoo traditions or a talisman in the Western esoteric traditions. In a sense it is also a mandala. It is a physical representation that acts as a focus for the energies of the spirit. It can be used by placing it on one’s personal altar, hiding it somewhere of import, or carrying it about on one’s person. You may even wish to take this magical diagram to the place of power you discovered in the Journey gate and ritually burn it or bury it.

Gate 4: Creating a Spirit Catcher

Take your deck and shuffle it whilst considering the guardian you have overcome, the journey you took, and the animal that was revealed at the last gate. Concentrate on that animal and ask, “How may I honour your spirit?” Take out one card. Lay the card face-up and make a note of the key symbols, items, objects, and colours in each of the following areas of the card:

The Shaman Matrix

The Shaman Matrix

Suppose that the upper-left section of the card contains just sky. You could write in that section of the box, “blue” or “sky.” Select the most prominent symbol in that area of the card for you, whilst also thinking of the animal.

Then imagine that this box represents a new spread. The top two sections are “How you honour me in your spiritual life,” the middle two sections are “How you honour me in your thoughts and feelings,” and the bottom two sections are “How you honour me in your daily activities.” These are the three levels of the world.

Take each of the three symbols and read them as if they were very simple tarot cards. What comes to mind? Write down your feelings and impressions.

In this manner of reading, each individual card becomes a mandala. It is also a spirit catcher, in that for the next twenty-four hours you must live according to these divinations before completing the last gate. These activities honour your animal spirit in all levels of your life. You should also record any dreams or events of note during this time.

We come now to the final gate of this gated spreads experience. Here we pull together our experience by invoking, embodying, and being empowered by the animal spirit we have been called by, and which we have caught by honouring it.

Gate 5: Invocation of the Animal Spirit

This activity uses a variation of a magical practice taught by urban shaman and modern chaos magician Jan Fries, whose books I recommend, particularly Visual Magick.

On a largish sheet of paper, draw a rough sketch of your animal spirit. This can be stylistic, symbolic, or realistic. Draw a cross on five places on the sketch. These could be key features such as the eye, wing, tail, heart, and so on. Write in each position a phrase that is appropriate to that part of the animal: “This is the vision of my spirit,” “This is the spiritual power of my spirit,” “This is the heart of my spirit.” Now take your deck and shuffle whilst contemplating the journey that has brought you to this place, the fear you had to overcome, the journey, the calling and the catching, and the honouring of your animal spirit. All the gates have led to this divine moment.

When you are ready, draw a card for each position on the animal. These cards represent the animal’s response to you. They show how you can invoke the powers and qualities of your animal spirit. They tell you how to live the animal.

For example, if we had a bat as our animal, and we had placed a cross on its ear(s), we could write, “This is the secret sense of the bat, my spirit.” Then we pulled the Seven of Disks (Thoth Tarot) in that position, which we would read as follows: “Failure and sloth—the secret sense of my animal spirit is present and invoked whenever I give up trying and relax, surrender.”

You now have five points of invocation of your animal spirit. As a tarot shaman, you can use these cards to draw upon the power of your animal guide, perhaps leaving them visible by your bed before sleep and communing with your animal in dreams. You may also create a montage of the cards to represent your animal, or use them in some other way to remind you of all that you have learnt during this week.

The Tarot Week

When working with tarot to engage life, one method is to live a Tarot Week. We do this by using the magical correspondences of the major arcana, which are appropriate to the planets of the week. This series of cards takes us from the Sun lighting our way at the beginning, to the World where we come to rest. You should, of course, begin on a Sunday.

Day	Planet	Tarot Card
Sunday	Sun	The Sun
Monday	Moon	The High Priestess
Tuesday	Mars	The Tower
Wednesday	Mercury	The Magician
Thursday	Jupiter	The Wheel of Fortune
Friday	Venus	The Empress
Saturday	Saturn	The World

Let’s take a look at how we can incorporate the cards’ energy into each day of our Tarot Week, using a journal to connect the days together.

Sunday: The Sun—Day of Expression

The Sun is all about light. The god Apollo was not just a god of the sun, but of light generally. Our mystical path is full of allusions to and experiences of light; light is often seen as the divine, the spirit, and the creative force. In psychological terms, the Sun is the centre of the self, as it is of the astronomical solar system. It also relates to self-expression.

We will start the week by creating a “Freedom List” in our journal. This list is based on Aleister Crowley’s Liber Oz, a statement of the rights of all persons. He stated that all people have the right to work, play, and rest as they will; to eat, drink, dwell, and travel as they will; to think, speak, write, draw, and create as they will. He also outlined a few more rights, some controversial; “to dress as you will” is one of the safe ones!

In your journal, write down what you feel free to do—where there are no constraints in your life. Consider the expansive sun, your solar self, and identify where you can shine. Write down only what accords with the sun—those freedoms—rather than your constraints, limitations, and blocks.

In itself, this can be an enlightening and even liberating experience. However, when used as the first step of a Tarot Week exercise, it can prove life-changing. In the example below, we show a few lines that should not be included in the journal as they are stated in the negative.

I am free to speak my own mind, and free to choose what to eat other than too much sugar. I am free to read anything. I am free to choose what I do today however I have to go to work tomorrow. I am free to wear what I wish, and free to cook anything I choose. I am able to walk wherever I want…

Continue on as much as you can to really capture the areas of life where you have the possibility of expansion. Focus entirely on the sun, the light, and the freedom of your life. At this stage we are not concerned about self-judgment, constraints, or other limitations that the exercise may highlight.

Next, carry out at least one activity today that you listed, in honour of the Sun tarot card. It can be as simple or extravagant as you wish; it just has to be carried out in the spirit of freedom and expansiveness. Even a person in prison can choose which of four walls he wishes to touch.

Monday: The High Priestess—Day of Mystery

On Sunday, we looked at our areas of freedom. These are navigated by our conscious will—our decisions to do one thing or another, within the illuminated chart of our freedom. Today we dive into deeper waters by performing a divination by tarot, honouring the High Priestess, to whom the moon is attributed in astrology, and whose day is Monday. The High Priestess is all about our intuition, the deeper currents that run through our life.

Perform a simple five-card tarot reading, drawing one card for today, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Write down what immediately comes to mind for each card and how you would interpret that card as “telling a fortune” for each of these days. In other words, what do you think each day will be like, based on its card?

At the end of today and each following day, review the card and your experiences, and contemplate any connections between your divination and the day itself. As the days progress and your other Tarot Week work kicks in, the way you read each card may change from your original interpretation today, which you can note in your journal.

Here’s an example of the card we pulled for Wednesday and our immediate interpretation:

Queen of Cups: On Wednesday, a gift of oracular nature will be delivered. It may be that a long-awaited dream will happen—which is possible, as this is the scheduled delivery date of a tarot book. We will also pay special attention to any message delivered to us by a woman with a kind and emotional nature.

Tuesday: The Tower—Day of Change

The Tower is one of the significant “change” cards in the deck. Whilst many of the cards deal with change in some way (and education, another common theme of the major arcana), this is one of the most immediate. It tells us that there is sudden change coming from outside of ourselves, and there is little we can do other than create new horizons out of the change.

For our Tarot Week activity for today, make a list of things you can change; in effect, this builds on our Sunday exercise. Here we see how we are free or constrained to affect our own life. The Sun shines, and the Tower strikes!

Next, do something to honour the Tower card and its planetary correspondence in our life by changing something today—deliberately and in full awareness. Again, it matters little whether it is a minor or major act, since sometimes even the smallest action can cause significant change.

For instance, we might write, “I can change my shoes, my hair, my desktop. I can change from drinking tea to drinking coffee. I can change someone’s state by telling them a joke and making them laugh…”

We quite like that latter action, so it is the one we choose to do today. Also, don’t forget to revisit Monday’s prediction for today. Was it accurate? Write about it in your journal.

Wednesday: The Magician—Day of Magic

Wednesday corresponds to the Magician. As he can be a tricky character, we are going to honour him by performing a magical trick ourselves, using our tarot deck. There are many ways of going about this, so we have chosen a powerful yet simple ritual to engage everything we will do this week to effect elegant change.

Take the seven planetary Tarot cards (the Sun, the High Priestess, the Tower, the Magician, the Wheel of Fortune, the Empress, and the World) and lay them out, face-up, in this order. Now shuffle them and lay them out, face-down, in a line.

We’ll now play a “Truth or Dare” game mixed with a “Find the Lady” game to engage our will and focus, the key components of the Magician card.

Move your hand across the seven face-down cards and say, “If I do not discover the Magician, I will…” and then state some “forfeit” or penalty activity you can carry out today; for example, you might choose “clear out the cellar.” Lay your hand on a chosen card, turn it over, and see if you have discovered the Magician. If he shows up on your first pick, the Magician has blessed you to have a totally free day. Do what thou wilt!

If, however, you do not discover the Magician, leave the card chosen face-up and repeat the process, with another forfeit to be added to the first if you do not discover the Magician this time. Keep repeating the task until you have discovered the Magician, and then ensure you do the tasks, which are now magical acts of will. If you find your Wednesday focused on six magical tasks because the Magician hid from you for all your choices, then you have our sympathy—however, you will have truly experienced the correspondence of the card to the trickster Mercury.

We’ll also return to our oracular prediction from Monday, in which we drew the Queen of Cups for today. As we reviewed today’s events, we remembered that there was a nice lady in the bank who said to us, “It will stop raining by tomorrow.” At the time, we didn’t think much of this; however, in review we realise that she was the Queen of Cups—the mention of rain corresponding to the water of the suit of cups. Her message that it will stop raining soon, spoken as it was in a bank, could perhaps be interpreted as meaning that our finances will improve tomorrow. We will be able to check that.

Thursday: The Wheel of Fortune—Day of Flow

Whilst yesterday was about will and focus, with the Wheel of Fortune we take the more circular and interconnected concept of karma—cause and effect—by the scruff of its neck, so to speak, by engaging with risk and chance. We have used our week so far to explore issues of freedom and choice, along with mystery and magic. Today we throw caution to the wind and see what happens when we let ourselves go with the flow.

The task for today—and it may prove very restful, or otherwise—is to simply go along with whatever unfolds. Attempt to live in the moment, make no plans, hold no regrets. Be present as much as possible, and experience the day fully.

The Wheel of Fortune holds all possibilities, so you can decide at the start of today to simply accept everything that happens and take every opportunity that presents itself without consideration. Whilst this may be a risk (and it is entirely up to you to decide what risks to take in your life), if you approach it without preconceptions, it may prove very liberating.

A film like Yes Man (2008) shows one way of opening oneself to this concept, while Groundhog Day (1993) does so in a totally different manner.

Make a note in your journal how this Jovian Wheel day differs from the previous Mercurial Magician day, and begin to observe how all days vibrate between these two extremes, the “1” of the Magician and the “10” of the Wheel. There is a deeper Kabbalistic consideration in this relationship, which you have now experienced in your Tarot Week—how the 1 and the 10, the magical source and the wheel of manifestation—are connected.

Don’t forget to revisit Monday’s prediction for today and write about it in your journal.

Friday: The Empress—Day of Growth

The Empress is literally pregnant with potential, and symbolises natural growth, cultivation, care, motherhood, and the divine feminine. She is the womb and the matrix—the matter—of creation. So our Friday should be a day on which we celebrate our ability to nurture all that grows toward the light of the sun.

Today, take into consideration all that you are free to do, all that you have divined, all that you have changed. Consider also all that you willed, all that you accepted. Now, in the light of all that you have observed during your Tarot Week, choose one thing to grow and nurture. Perhaps you choose a relationship or a project at work; perhaps you choose to teach someone or to give a gift that furthers the personal growth of another person. It is up to you.

Make a note in your journal how this offering, this nurturing, enriches your life and how it connects to all that has preceded it in the week. You may see that the Empress unifies all the other cards, since she corresponds to Venus, the only one of the planetary symbols to fully embrace the whole of the Tree of Life.

Also, remember to revisit Monday’s prediction for today and write about it in your journal.

Saturday: The World—Day of Engagement

On Saturn’s day, before we return again to the light of pure awareness and freedom on Sunday, we consolidate and manifest our work. Saturn is seen as a planet of structure, tradition, and constraint. It can hold us back and challenge us, yet at the same time it rewards us by giving us things of the world—and it is the World card to which we come today. As it is a Saturday, it is quite appropriate that today is a very material day.

Today, enjoy the material world in some manner. Whether you go for a walk in the park or go shopping, get out and touch, smell, feel, and sense the world. Watch a movie, go out for a meal or cook one. Indulge yourself in our shared physical reality. This is the surface of the light that you experienced in the freedom exercise—and whilst it is engaging, it is also constraining; there are only so many things you can do. So enjoy what you can today, and make notes in your journal of your experience of the World.

How does it feel when you consider all that you are free to do, all that you have divined, all that you have changed, all that you willed, all that you have accepted, and all that you have nurtured? How have the experiences of your Tarot Week informed and shaped your relationship to the world?

With this summation, you have come to the end of the exercise. You can also continue it for one or more extra weeks, each time spiralling to new insights and conclusions, or revisit it every so often, perhaps once a year or once a season.

Optional Extras to your Tarot Week23

You can burn a candle at the start and end of each day, in a colour appropriate to the planet and/or tarot card of the day. This will help you focus and remain aware of the nature of the day’s energy.

Sunday: Orange or gold

Monday: White or blue

Tuesday: Red

Wednesday: Yellow or orange

Thursday: Blue or violet

Friday: Green

Saturday: Black or purple

You can also burn incense as appropriate to the planet and card:

Sunday: Frankincense

Monday: Myrrh, myrtle

Tuesday: Lignum aloes

Wednesday: Cinnamon

Thursday: Nutmeg, saffron

Friday: Rose

Saturday: Storax

Tarot Currents

In this method of engaging life, we utilise the correspondences of the major arcana cards to the zodiac to align our own life with the tides of the sun and moon, thereby surfing their waves rather than having them crash over us.

You will need access to an almanac or a solar/lunar calendar, which are readily available on a number of astrology websites.24 As the sun moves through one sign of the zodiac approximately every month (twelve signs for twelve months of the year) and the moon moves through a sign every two or three days (twelve signs each month), there are 12 x 12 = 144 combinations of this joint current. It is like a braid twisted from two fibres, which changes its quality every two or three twists.

So we can have the sun in Cancer on a date in July, with the moon in Scorpio for two days over that same date. After those two days, with the sun remaining in Cancer, the moon moves into Sagittarius. Later in the month, the sun shifts its position into Leo, whilst the moon continues changing sign every two or three days. There are some points in the yearly cycle when both the sun and the moon are in the same sign at the same time. This happens each month at the new moon, and can be seen in the almanac or calendar. (Each month at the full moon, the sun and moon are in opposite signs.)

So in this activity, we’ll take the tarot cards corresponding to the signs in which the sun and moon are placed for any given day, and read them as a two-card combination that illustrates the underlying nature of that day. We can then align our activities to the prevailing energy, to best take advantage of these deeper currents.

As a simple rule, the card corresponding to the sign in which the sun is placed shows you what to be most aware of. The card corresponding to the sign in which the moon is placed shows you a personal reflection to consider.

Here are the astrological correspondences:

Zodiacal Sign	Card		Zodiacal Sign	Card
Aries	The Emperor		Libra	Justice
Taurus	The Hierophant		Scorpio	Death
Gemini	The Lovers		Sagittarius	Temperance
Cancer	The Chariot		Capricorn	The Devil
Leo	Strength		Aquarius	The Star
Virgo	The Hermit		Pisces	The Moon

We give below some examples that come from 2010.

• 23–24 July: Sun in Leo: Strength; Moon in Capricorn: The Devil. A tough time revealing what you cannot let go of—yet. A clue to a better relationship.
• 25–27 July: Sun in Leo: Strength; Moon in Aquarius: The Star. During the full moon on the 25th, be brave and listen to dreams. They are yours—align to them!
• 28–29 July: Sun in Leo: Strength; Moon in Pisces: The Moon. Reflecting on the strength of fear, you find the fear strengthens your resolve to fight.

In this chapter, we have covered many ways of engaging and enhancing daily life with the tarot. In this way we look to deepen our comprehension of our experiences on earth and connect to the magic and mystery of the invisible knots that bind the world and its people together.

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