Your Guide to Tarot Mastery...The Tarot Your Guide to Tarot Mastery Edition 16 Winter 2014 This...

The Tarot Your Guide to Tarot Mastery

Edition 16 Winter 2014

This edition’s theme is based on the card called ‘The Tower’.

Our series of newsletters has now reached one of the most dramatic cards of the Major Arcana. We are faced with an image of chaos and destruction, but is it as bad as it seems? Unfortunately, the answer is, ‘yes!’ As Tarot readers, we’re often expected to find the good in all situations. And most Tarot authors will hasten past the negative aspects of ‘difficult’ cards in order to tell people about the wonderful opportunities that will come their way when they have faced the awkwardness of cards such as Death, The Devil, and The Tower. However, I suggest a different approach. When a card such as The Tower appears in a reading, it’s there for a purpose. For example, if it turns up in a position on a spread relating to the present time frame, it’s to let you know that the person you’re doing the reading for is suffering. Don’t gloss over it! Let them know that you realise their life has just been turned up-side-down and that they are distressed. Commiserate with them. After you have listened to their woes, then move on and describe the next phase, so they realise it won’t stay this way forever. Help them to understand that sometimes you have to remove the roof to see the stars, but only after acknowledging that you saw the roof crashing down around them.

Tarot Blessings, Don McLeod

www.MisterTarot.com

Page 1 – Editorial

Page 2 – Meditation & Tarot

Page 3 – Book & Deck Review

Page 4 – Tarot Gatherings

Page 5 – Doing Readings for Yourself

Page 6 – Workshops and Classes

Page 7 – Tarot Reading Case History

Page 8 – Interpretations for The Tower

There are two ways to get to know the meanings of

the Tarot cards…the hard way and the easy way. The hard

way is to try and learn all of the interpretations. The easy way is to discover the meanings for yourself.

You can spend years studying Tarot books and

learning the interpretations from books, but then you have to reinterpret that information when doing readings. Most

people struggle with Tarot studies, and they simply want to

get beyond simple memorisation of card meanings. Do you

want to bring the potent energy of these cards more fully into your life? Meditation with the Tarot is the key to

discovering their deeper meanings.

Meditating with the characters of the Tarot cards always provides interesting and useful information. It results

in an expanded awareness of the meanings of the cards on a

very personal level. From this you gain greater insight for your readings, and you will learn more about Tarot as a

whole. Meditation with the Tarot helps you to feel

connected to the cards with greater intensity than simply

committing the standard meanings to memory. During a Tarot Meditation your consciousness will be

opened to the infinite possibilities of each card. You will

be guided by your inner wisdom to see things in the cards

that you’ve never seen before. You will be open to unique

personal experiences sparked by the characters featured

on the cards. And when you’ve made this soulful

connection with each character, they will be more

accessible when you are doing readings.

Meditation with the Tarot is an intensely profound

method to connect with the cards. The rich symbolism

displayed on each card makes them ideal for subconscious

exploration. You will be filled with deep insights and you will connect with them on a soul level.

To meditate with a Tarot card, such as The Empress, start by looking at all of the details on the card. Now close

your eyes and concentrate on your breathing. As you focus

on your breath, allow your breathing to become slower and

deeper. Enter a deep state of relaxation and then visualise the card called The Empress. Hold the image of the card in

your mind and see it as a doorway in your mind. When you

are ready, take a step through the doorway and into the

landscape of that card.

Introduce yourself to The Empress as she sits on

her lounge and ask if you can talk with her for a while. You can now ask her about the symbolism, energy, and

meanings of the card. When you have finished talking,

thank The Empress and bring yourself back into your conscious surroundings.

After the meditation, reflect upon your

experience. You can do these meditations at any time, and you can lead yourself through them, but sometimes the

most powerful results come from guided meditations led

by another person. It allows your conscious mind to be

completely at rest and it gives you the opportunity to explore the card’s meanings at a deeper level.

One of the best Tarot Meditation courses available

is Brigit Esselmont’s ‘Soul Meditations: A Journey Through the Major Arcana’. Brigit says, “Meditating

with the Tarot can be used to deepen your understanding

of the cards to a level that is very personal and profound. It is also incredibly powerful as a self-healing tool, a

method for manifestation or a way to access the Divine.”

When you are ready to create a soulful connection

with the Tarot, take a peaceful journey through Brigit’s Soul Meditations. It’s a powerful set of guided

visualisations that have been specifically designed to lead

you on an uplifting spiritual adventure through the Major Arcana. Make time now to deepen your connection with

these powerful cards, so that you can access your inner

wisdom. They provide a unique experience of the Tarot

that will change the way you look at the cards.

When you actively engage with the characters of the

Tarot through meditation, you open yourself to a

deeply personal connection with them. Your mind

opens up to its own wisdom of the cards and you no

longer have to rely on memorising their meanings.

I’ve listened to many Tarot Meditations over the last 30 years of my Tarot studies, and this is the best that

I’ve experienced. This is a unique opportunity to explore

the Tarot in a safe, positive, and inspirational manner. But it’s more than just a way to discover the meanings of the

cards…the meditations and exercises in this program will

integrate the wisdom of the Tarot with your own spiritual

path, so that you can fully connect to your higher consciousness.

The Major Arcana cards are a pathway to

enlightenment. Through the rich, symbolic tapestry of these 22 cards you can connect to your inner wisdom, your

intuition, and your higher self.

Click here to find out about Soul Meditations.


https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?ii=1281545&c=ib&aff=130601&cl=154240https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?ii=1281545&c=ib&aff=130601&cl=154240

Although the Lenormand Oracle has been available

since 1850, it’s only recently taken off amongst Tarot

enthusiasts. For those who are tempted to break away

from traditional Tarot and delve into this form of card

reading, the book ‘Learning Lenormand’ is going to be

valuable addition to your library.

The aim of the authors is to introduce this card reading

system to newcomers and to encourage them to explore

other historical methods of divination. Obviously,

having a Lenormand deck in front of you as you read

this book is going to be advantageous, but the authors

suggest that as an alternative, you can create a simple

set of cards from your own artwork, or by creating a

collage of magazine clippings.

Unlike Tarot, the Lenormand

cards are not filled to the brim

with esoteric symbols, number

correspondences, & Kabbalistic

references; each card simply

shows domestic objects such as a

house, a child, or a dog. The

authors state, “…it is like a

children’s book, because in fact

it was designed as a simple

parlour game for the whole

family. It really is child’s play.”

The book contains some very good research that

debunks the spurious tenets of a thousand websites

devoted to false histories of the Lenormand oracle. We

discover that the Lenormand cards had nothing to do

with the famous Parisienne fortune-teller Mademoiselle

Lenormand…attributing the name of this card game to

this noted seer was simply a marketing ploy used after

her death in 1843.

The message of this book is simple…Lenormand is

not a form of Tarot; it is a different system altogether.

With Tarot, you look at the card and use your intuition

to divine a meaning based on the symbols contained

within the image; with Lenormand, each of the 36

cards has a set meaning, for example, the image of

clover means luck or good fortune...nothing more and

nothing less!

For those who want to explore card divination of a

different kind, this book is going to be very useful. It

has simple instructions that cover everything you need

to know about this form of divination.

Title: Learning Lenormand (Traditional Fortune

Telling for Modern Life)

Authors: Marcus Katz & Tali Goodwin

Published by: Llewellyn Worldwide

ISBN: 978-0-7387-3647-1


A ‘Tower’ Experience

A year ago, I ran a Tarot Skills class. To start the

session, we drew three cards from the Major Arcana.

The first card was to show my role as a teacher. Without looking at the cards, I chose the image called

Temperance. This signified that I was to keep the

information flowing, but in a well-balanced manner. I

was to provide a blend of practical and spiritual information.

The second card was chosen by a student. It represented the attitude in which the class was to participate in this

workshop. The card intuitively chosen to represent this

attitude was Judgement. This showed that they were to

open their arms, eyes, and hearts to the call of Tarot.

And the final card? I chose this card to signify the

outcome for the day. It was to show that if I fulfilled my role with the energy of the Temperance card, and if the

class opened themselves to the teaching as shown in the

card called Judgement, then this card would be the result. When I looked at the back of the cards and

concentrated on drawing an appropriate image, there was

silence and surprised expressions on those around me

when I pulled out The Tower! But I was glad to see it…

“That’s fantastic!” I crowed. “Look at that—a big, fat,

glorious breakthrough is on its way! You’ve come along today with pre-conceived notions of what Tarot is about,

and some of you have been doing readings for a while,

but you still don’t have confidence in your interpretations, however, during this workshop we’re

going to pull all of that apart and give you a new structure

as a base for your Tarot skills. By the end of the day the

old method of struggling with Tarot will be knocked away and replaced with a new, dynamic way of looking

at the cards.”

I kept my part of the deal, and the participants kept theirs,

and The Tower made its presence felt (in a positive way)

by the end of the session.

Learn how to combine Tarot and Palmistry in an innovative, five week course, held once a week at Hahndorf, S. A. Only $190 Email Trev: [email protected]

Adelaide Tarot Gatherings

On Wednesday 25th June Don McLeod will be giving a talk on

‘The Role of the Subconscious in Tarot’.

This will be held at the Tarot Guild of Australia’s monthly meeting.

All are welcome!

For more information on each monthly event, contact Martha on 0403 276 319

or email: [email protected]

Venue: St John’s Spiritualist Church 271 Carrington Street, Adelaide

Starting time is 7 p.m. Cost is $5

For a state-by-state listing of monthly Tarot gatherings around Australia, see the Guild’s

website: www.tarotguild.org.au


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mailto:[email protected]://www.tarotguild.org.au/

Doing Readings for Yourself

Back in 1997 I went to the Tarot Guild’s International Tarot Conference. At that event a presenter asked

the group if anyone read Tarot cards for themselves. I put up my hand. “I do. What’s the good of being able

to read Tarot if you don’t use that skill? I thought everyone did readings for themselves.” The people in the

workshop wheeled around and stared. “No, you can’t do readings for yourself,” they all said. “Sure you can,”

I replied. “I read them for myself all the time! I use Tarot to find out what’s coming up and I check on various

situations to see what choices will work out best for me.” Heads shook in disbelief. They said, “No, you can’t

be objective when you read for yourself. You’ll only see what you are hoping for.”

I’m pleased to say that this attitude has changed. At last year’s conference a presenter asked the same question,

“Can you do readings for yourself?” This time just about everyone nodded their heads in agreement. There

was even a whole workshop devoted to doing readings for yourself. Linda Marson (from Global Spiritual

Studies) was the presenter and she gave some great ideas for spreads that were specifically for self-readings.

In the book “Tarot Masters” by Kim Arnold, an article by Mary K. Greer includes the line, “A major

breakthrough came when I realized that while all the books of the time said not to read Tarot for yourself,

everyone I knew did.” This concept resulted in her first Tarot book called, “Tarot for Yourself.”

Is there any validity in the notion that you can’t be objective when doing a reading for yourself? Unfortunately,

I believe that some people may be inclined to cheat themselves in this way. When they are challenged by what

they see, they may try to put a positive spin on the situation, so that they don’t feel as though they are putting

a jinx on their current situation, or so that they don’t spend all night worrying about a situation that may not

eventuate.

When reading for yourself, there is also the risk that you might not like

the look of the cards that have been dealt and you may be tempted to

gather them up and re-shuffle, but when you have confidence in your

abilities as a reader, and when you see something that you don’t like,

then you will realise this as a great opportunity for you to discover more

about who you are and where you are headed. It is an opening for you

to face your fears and conquer them.

Can you do readings for yourself? I know that you can. But it requires

being honest with yourself…and surely that’s not too much to ask?


Interpretations for The Tower

When this image turns up in a spread, you can be sure that there’s chaos, disruption, confusion, and drama happening in a person’s life. The good news is that the end result will be a release from false concepts. They will see situations as they really are, finally breaking through the delusions that they have been steadfastly trying to ignore.

Ultimately, this realisation leads to freedom of thought and an awakening of their spirit, so that they can

make more appropriate decisions in the future.

Quotable Quotes

In ‘Tarot Masters’, Carrie Paris gave this gem of

illumination about the card called The Tower…

‘The thunderous crack that follows the lightning in this card makes a loud,

radical cry for change. It transmits its message through a variety of earth-

shaking notes and, like the music from

the Gods, some notes will soothe the soul while others will shatter everything

you know.’

New Tarot Workshops with Don McLeod

Session # 1 - Tarot Simplified

Sunday 24th August from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Held at Crystal Wave 677 Grange Road, Grange, SA

How Tarot Works Demystifying Tarot Insightful Tarot Spreads Learn Easy Interpretations Practical & Spiritual Uses

By the end of this workshop you will feel

comfortable using Tarot cards and you will

have a better understanding of their meanings.

6 hours training for only $99

Requirements: Rider-Waite Tarot Deck Bookings essential: Phone 8235 1817

Followed by…

Session # 2 - Intermediate Tarot

Sunday 31st August from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

@ Crystal Wave

Continue Your Tarot Adventure Use the Major Arcana in Spreads Become Familiar with the Suits Connect with the Cards’ Numbers Understand the Court Cards

Gain more confidence in your

ability to read the cards.

6 hours training for only $99 Bookings essential: Phone 8235 1817


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Tarot Reading - a Case History

Neil had recently lost his job. He asked for a reading about his future. I decided to do a reading for the next three months. The layout that I chose was a three card spread…one card for each of the next three months. But I decided to add a

twist. The top layer of three cards were to represent the events of the next three months, and another layer was placed

under each card to show the feelings that were generated by these events. Here are the cards chosen for the spread…

January

Events - 7 of Swords: An opportunity is

taken away from you. Perhaps you thought

that if you left your place of employment, you might be offered a position elsewhere.

However, when you were dismissed, you

discovered that people were not true to their words. Opportunities that you thought

might have been forthcoming were non-

existent. Thoughts of this nature keep

surfacing during this month, but you are able to push them aside.

Feelings - Temperance: The failure of others to recognise your potential as an employee isn’t too much of a surprise.

You maintain a feeling of being well-balanced and tend to focus on more important issues of wholeness and wellbeing during this month.

February

Events - Page of Wands: Now you’re feeling restless. You are more seriously looking for opportunities. Probably

seeking something different to what you have been doing before. Feelings - Judgement: You’ve had to time to consider your options, and now you have a better understanding of what

you’d like to be doing. You feel more driven to make yourself known to those who could make use of your services and

you feel the desire to make things happen. Although the spark of initiative and excitement of new beginnings is with you, this energy is short-lived and in the following month you begin to doubt yourself.

March

Events - 8 of Cups: This is a time to let go and walk away from the past. It’s a time to make a conscious decision to

put in extra effort to working out your direction in life - and actively pursue it. Feelings - 10 of Swords: If you spend too much time thinking about the past you might find yourself dragged into a

period of low energy, darkness and depression.

So that the reading didn’t finish on a sour note, I decided to draw another couple of cards

to show what happened in the following month. The Page of Pentacles was the event for April.

The 3 of Wands showed the feelings generated during that month.

April

Event - Page of Pentacles: A new start. An opportunity to make some money comes your way. It could be from the

start of a new business, or the start of a new job. It might just be that you see signs of a new start in the immediate future, but I think it’s more solid and definitive than that.

Feelings - 3 of Wands: This feels like a good starting point. You already feel inspired to look at the bigger picture and

you realise where this may lead. You feel positive about your future again.

Summary: As a summary of the reading, it’s most likely that Neil will take it easy for the first month and then feel inspired to pick up his game and become more serious about finding employment. After this he could become depressed

about a lack of response from potential employers, but this turns around in April when a new opportunity arises.

Postscript: While I was putting together this newsletter, Neil informed me that his mother died at the end of February.

In hindsight, this would help to account for the ‘depressing’ images that turned up for the month of March.


www.MisterTarot.com

Mister Tarot is on Facebook! Visit here and click “Like” to get all the latest Tarot news.

“Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so

that new joy can find space to enter. It

shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves

can grow in their place. It pulls up the

rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever

sorrow shakes from your heart, far better

things will take their place.”

― Rumi.

If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter,

simply send an email to: [email protected]

with the word ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject area.

Copyright on all articles in this newsletter belong

to Don McLeod unless specifically stated otherwise.

To paraphrase Leonard Cohen…

There’s a crack in everything

- that’s how the light gets in!

Quotes for

The Tower “In chaos, there is fertility.”

- Anaïs Nin

“Things fall apart so that things can fall together.”

- Practical wisdom.

“A breakdown happens when you are fighting against the truth. And a

breakthrough happens when you are

awakening to the truth.” - Don McLeod

“Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle

of difficulty, lies opportunity.” - Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)


Mister Tarot has a ‘Tower’ moment at Daylesford, Victoria
http://www.facebook.com/MisterTarot

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