Tarot Class

After a long (several years) absence from the practice of tarot I was re-immersed (that’s right, I made that word up; just now) in the ancient and venerable practice on Wednesday night. My wife, Susie Joyce, teaches, or mentors people in, tarot reading at the JOY Center on the second floor of the strip mall at S. 48^th and Briarhurst. Since I’m on vacation and have a lot of time on my hands I decided to participate in a class.

Susie conducted the class by soliciting each of our own interpretations of the cards that we were studying that night. This proved to be interesting, since each of us was using a different deck. I was using what many consider to be a “traditional” tarot deck, the Rider-Waite, although even a cursory study of the history of tarot will belie this assumption. Let’s say instead that in 20^th century America, this deck enjoys widespread familiarity and its symbolism influences other decks. Susie used a Hanson-Roberts deck, very similar in its symbols, but with richer, more colorful illustrations. One other student used a dragon-themed deck, while our third student brought two decks – one a vampire tarot and the other a zombie-themed deck. The humor in the zombie deck kept things interesting.

The cards that we studied were the 22 cards called the major arcana, or greater secrets. The remaining 56 cards are divided into four suits and are called the minor arcana or lesser secrets. Through our own examination of the cards along with Susie’s explanation of areas of influence of each of the cards, we received a basic grounding in the cards’ meaning.

During the final part of the class we got the opportunity to practice giving each other readings. I remember when I first began to learn about the tarot – I wanted to refer to my notes and reference books every time I drew a card, but I was urged to let the cards be a guide to my own intuition and inspiration, rather than rely on a textbook description and meaning. I was asked to demonstrate the way that I do readings, which is without a spread. A spread is a particular arrangement of cards where each card position represents something. One position might stand for the past or the future; a position might refer to a specific person, but in each spread every position refers to something predetermined. The way that I set my cards down is by putting down one card and then surrounding it with four others, laying them down in no particular order. The central card outlines the main issue, while the other four amplify or give more detail on it. Each of those details can be expanded upon or further examined by laying down more cards.

After demonstrating how it worked I had the opportunity to do a “real” reading for a fellow student. I had forgotten what a rush I got from doing a reading that was flowing well. When I’m doing a reading, the cards help, but don’t determine what I am intuiting. They’re like a magnifying glass and a bright light that assist the physical eye – magnifying, illuminating and clarifying what the inner eye is seeing.

I’ll be participating in a class again next Wednesday, again at the JOY Center.