Online Tarot Course
The first three chapters from 'Tarot
for Life' In which you'll learn how to aproach
a Tarot Reading, how to lay out the cards, and the
preliminaries of interpreting the result.
Introduction
“Give me the courage to change what I can,
the serenity to accept what I cannot change,
and the wisdom to know the difference.”Prayer attributed to Saint Augustine
It may seem odd to start a course on Tarot with a Christian prayer, but no words I have seen express the value of good Tarot reading better. In every life there are things which can be adjusted for better results and other things which must be accepted as they are. Used well, Tarot can illustrate both and help us to exercise more freedom of choice in our lives. Used badly, it too often gives the impression that there is no choice and that we are "fated" to go along a certain path.
One of the biggest misconceptions that cause bad reading practice is the idea that reading the cards is a matter of learning a set of fixed meanings and then applying them rigidly to all people and situations. It is as if Tarot were a computer code, a matter of cold logic. Tarot is a language of sorts, certainly, and any language must have a certain amount of structure and rigidity to have meaning. But in order to have continuing value, a language must be flexible enough for each of its speakers to "customize" it to their own needs.
So, if the cards are a language, who, or what, is speaking? Gareth Knight, a writer I hold in high esteem, talks about a "Spirit of the Tarot", which is a valuable idea. Whether we see this Spirit as an outer entity or an aspect of our own subconscious matters little in practice. What matters is that, by relating to the Tarot as if it were a wise old friend offering advice, we can hold the appropriate attitude, respectful but not subservient, able and willing to read between the lines of what is said and to filter it through our own common sense.
So, in that spirit, it gives me great pleasure to introduce you to my friend the Tarot. May its acquaintance bring as much joy and wisdom into your life as it has into mine.
