Tarot Spell to Encourage Good Dreams

I’ve been revisiting my old book, Tarot Spells, which I wrote back in the 1990s, to refresh my memory as to what is in that book, as well as to play around with different tarot decks in my collection to see which of their graphics lend themselves especially well to these spells.

So, I decided to start with my rite “To Encourage Good Dreams,” (pp. 129-132 of book).  The three cards used in this spell are the Ace of Cups, The Moon, and The Star.  After trying combinations with different decks, I was pleased with the graphic resonance when I use the cards featured below, which are from The Green Witch Tarot Deck.  This deck was designed by Ann Moura and illustrated by Kiri Leonard.

One thing you might immediately notice is that The Moon card is different than usual, as rather than having a wolf and a dog in the foreground, it instead has a woman who has her back to us as she looks at the reflection of the moon in the pond.  That particular card works well for this particular spell, because the spell involves projecting yourself into the card, so to speak, as you visualize yourself standing under a moonlit sky.

There is graphic continuity from the fish jumping out of the river in the Ace of Chalices to the fish jumping out of the pond in The Moon.  The Ace of Cups/Chalices is here symbolic of the Unconscious mind, (as the Ace of Cups represents new experiences in the inner world of your emotional and spiritual life), while the fish represents subconscious elements emerging from the depths, (similar to the fish emerging from the cup in the Rider-Waite-Smith Deck’s Page of Cups).  Note that I capitalize “Unconscious” to represent the Jungian idea of the Deep Mind, as opposed to being unconscious due to being asleep or knocked out.  The three cards also evoke the depths in featuring watery environments.

The cup is also significant because a common technique for dream recall, (used by people who do dream incubations), involves sipping half a cup of water before going to bed, and half upon waking, while affirming that you will remember your dreams.  Doreen Virtue suggests holding the cup to your solar plexus while making an affirmation such as “My dreams are vivid,” before going to bed, and then upon waking, “I now remember my dreams in vivid color and detail.”  For help with creative work, Jess Stearn advises drinking the water while saying, “This is all I have to do to find the solution to the project I have in mind,” and also closing your eyes and turning them slightly upward, because that helps you get into the alpha state.  If the solution isn’t in your thoughts on waking, it may come during the day as a flash of insight.

But back to the tarot spell, I won’t type out the whole chapter, but the basic spell is below.  In my book, I didn’t mention the practice of drinking half of the cup before bed and the other half before awakening, (because I wasn’t familiar with that technique back in the 90s), but you can do that to modify the spell if you like.

First, lay down The Moon card while visualizing yourself standing under a moonlit sky.  Sense the moon as a nearby, kindly presence.  Imagine that you see the moon take on the shape of a beautiful shining lady with a crown of stars.  Know that she is the Queen of Night and will send beautiful dreams to you.

Next, set the Ace of Cups in place to the left of The Moon, while imagining that the Moon Goddess is presenting you with a chalice containing a magical elixir, which will give you wondrous, happy dreams.  At this point, take up a cup which you have prepared in advance and drink from it.  (It doesn’t matter whether you choose to drink water, milk, wine, or whatever.)  Know that your drink has been transformed into the magical elixir through the power of your inner magic.

Finally, set The Star in place while imagining that the magical elixir enables you to float up into the sky and drift freely among the glistening stars.  Know that each of the beautiful stars surrounding you will bestow on you a special dream.

Then, recite the following affirmation:

“I have tasted the magical elixir

which brings dreams of inspiration and wonder.

Every night as I sleep,

my spirit is drawn into realms of beauty and light.

Magic, romance, and enchantment

shine through my nighttime dreams

and linger with me when I wake.

This magic is, and this magic shall be!”

 

As always, you can modify the spell by using different cards, visualizations, and affirmations to better suit your needs.

There are some folkloric aspects to this spell, because the ancient Thessalian witches had a practice called “drawing down the moon,” and there is also the mystical technique of pouring milk into a fancy cup like a chalice and then going out under the full moon to catch the reflection of the moon in the cup to drink in the magically charged liquid.

2025 - YEAR OF THE HERMIT (continued)

 Yesterday I wrote about The Hermit as the year card for 2025.  Here is another snippet from the tarot magic book I’m working on—it is about using The Hermit in tarot spells.

Tarot Spells:  When The Hermit card comes up in a reading, you can look for interesting graphic associations if the Hermit is holding up his lantern to an adjoining card.  For example, The High Priestess card often denotes secrets or hidden knowledge, so (using the RWS deck) The Hermit appearing to the right of the Priestess would indicate his help in illuminating the mysteries that the High Priestess conceals.  (By contrast, if he appears to the left of the High Priestess, it would indicate that you are looking in the wrong place for the information you seek—maybe too absorbed with the past to notice what is right before you.)

Going on the same principle, when you want to create a tarot spell to bring some matter to light, you can set The Hermit to the right of whichever card best illustrates your concerns. Based on the example of the High Priestess, (and depending on whether the deck you use has The Hermit figure facing left), you could lay The Hermit to her right when you want to uncover some secret or gain intuitive knowledge.  (If using a deck in which The Hermit is facing to the right, the Priestess would go to the right.)   In other examples, The Hermit placed next to Justice can be used for seeking justice and transparency in legal matters, next to The Star for seeking a spirit guide, next to The Hierophant for clarification of received teachings, to The Moon to shed light on a path through darkness, the Ace of Pentacles for transparency in financial matters, the Page or Knight of Pentacles for help with gaining practical information, the Knight of Cups for a better understanding of what he brings to his mission of healing, the Seven of Swords to reveal the identity of a thief-- and so on and so forth.  The possibilities are numerous.

  

In this example, notice the graphic resonance between the Knight's pentacle and the Hermit's lantern.

More about THE LOVERS and THE MAGIC OF DOUBLING

In the previous post, we looked at a love spell involving The Steampunk Tarot, which uses an image of doubling in The Sun card, (echoing some of the more antique renditions of this card).  When different creative teams come up with new tarot deck variations, it expands our understanding of the individual cards, and offers new opportunities for magic working.  Another deck which portrays a happy couple in its rendition of The Sun card is the “Tarot of Jane Austen,” (a Lo Scarabeo deck by Diane Wilkes; illustrated by Lola Airaghi).  This deck also portrays a happy couple in The World card, as in the world of Jane Austen, relationship is key to completion and wholeness.  These cards, then, are ideal for a spell where love leads to marriage, as shown below.

As stated in the previous post, you don’t perform love spells with an intent to bind a reluctant partner to your will, but to send an invitation out into the Universe, to attract the attention of individuals who will resonate to a shared vision of pleasure in relationship.  When performing this spell, as you lay out the cards, you could visualize different ways that you and your potential partner might come together, (while also allowing for unexpected ways of meeting), having fun discovering some things you have in common, and the eventual trip to the altar.

You’ll notice that The Lovers card is not included in this particular spell.  That’s because the Tarot of Jane Austen also uses an older conceptual rendition of The Lovers, that features another woman in the scene.  Older cards which depict the man having to decide between two women make a philosophical statement about choices, and touch on Jungian notions of lunar and solar forces, and the Dark Woman and Bright Lady archetypes.  However, for purposes of a love spell, we normally don’t want to distract attention from the desired one-on-one relationship, because we want the Lovers to be solely and intimately focused on each other.

LOVE SPELLS AND THE MAGIC OF DOUBLING

Yesterday’s discussion session at the Triple Goddess centered on how the mysteries of twinning and the magic of doubling can apply to love spells, The Lovers card, and other cards with images of doubling, particularly as they apply to male and female characters. 

I want to make a few more points on this topic, but for those who attended, first let me apologize for my tendency to get distracted and confused, so that I don’t stay on track—jumping from topic to topic, dealing with things out of turn, skipping over some individuals, or not giving enough time to their questions and concerns, or too much time to others.  Because my son has been accompanying me, he’s able to give me a retrospective with some constructive criticism on these issues.  Also, because I am aware that I do have these problems, I’m very happy to have people hold my feet to the fire and forcefully pull my attention back to whatever or whoever I should be focusing on.

So anyway, I brought up this combined topic for discussion because I had heard that some of the attendees were particularly interested in love spells, plus the sun is currently in Gemini, the sign of the twins.  When we consider the reasons for engaging in romantic relationships, (as well as friendships, partnerships, and other types of one-on-one relationships), elements of twinning often add verve to the relationship.  There is a desire to find kindred spirits who share some of our personality traits and interests, and so also serve as mirrors to our selves.  However, we also like our partners to have some opposite traits and qualities, so as to complement our strengths and weaknesses.  It is no surprise that in magical twin pairs, opposites are also often portrayed; for example, the cult of the magical twins in Afro-Caribbean culture defines different types of twins, including a male and female pair.  On top of all that, there’s something about the idea of having a twin that is “fun,” so those of us who were not born twins may feel like we’ve missed out on something special.

The joy of having a partner who is a kindred spirit can be brought into love spells that use tarot cards with images of doubling.  As I explained about love spells during our session, the idea is not to coerce some individual into a relationship against his or her will, but to send out a mental call that attracts people who are on your same vibratory wavelength, holding out psychic images of the fun—as well as the fulfillment--you can enjoy together, should they respond to your magical invitation.  For doing tarot spells along these lines, there are of course a lot of images to choose from, to offer different visions of how life can be beautiful in relationship.

In keeping with the themes of pairing and twinning, I was going through my decks to see if any of the newer ones have picked up on images of doubling in The Sun card, as some of the very old versions feature a pair of children, and others a pair of lovers.  (This is in addition to The Lovers card.)  The imagery in question makes an astrological reference to the sun as ruler of the 5^th house, which governs love, pleasure, and children—though the image also recalls the Gemini twins.  Although I find very few modern decks that include a human pair in the Sun imagery, this is nicely portrayed in “The Steampunk Tarot” (by Barbara Moore and artist Aly Fell), so this card can be used to bring an image of happiness into a love spell, as illustrated below:

For those who aren’t familiar with the term, “steampunk” is a literary and artistic genre that evokes a Jules Vernian fantasy, (set in the age of steam), and combines 19^th century tech with high adventure, and sometimes also magic.  This steampunk tarot spell emphasizes the alchemical quality of an ideal relationship, so as you would be laying out the cards, it would be good to think about the joyful chemistry needed in relationship.  (In fact, if one knew something about chemistry, one could put a test-tube holder next to the card layout, containing two tubes with substances that mix well—and then mix them while thinking about the importance of having the right chemistry with another person;  persons that don’t have a chemistry set, but know something about aromatherapy, could try mixing essential oils.)  Notice, also, that the Steampunk 10 of Cups  puts the pair in more direct focus than other versions based on the Rider-Waite-Smith deck.  I like to have the Sun card up above, in the same way that children’s drawings often have a sun in the sky to denote happiness.

Well, there is a lot more that can be said about bringing images of pairing into love spells and other tarot spells, so I hope to say a bit more about that in my next post.

SPRINGTIME RETURNS

Hey folks, tomorrow is the first Sunday of April, and I shall be resuming my free and casual, first Sunday workshops at the Triple Goddess, (now at their new location on the east side of Lansing).  This year the workshops will run from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. (trimmed down a bit). 

The main activity for each month will be the Tarot Round Robin, where we go around the table, focusing on each person in turn, with everyone drawing a card for that person.  These round robins give everyone a chance to have a sort of “mega reading.”  They also give us the chance to become familiar with a greater variety of tarot decks and other oracle decks.  Also, in the Triple Goddess’s new building, it appears we’ll have more table space than previously.  Having more surface space in front of us means we’ll be able to do more with tarot spells.  For example, as we all draw cards for each person’s reading, we can lay down their respective cards in front of them to better see if there are any interesting graphic or other symbolic connections.  Then, if there are some cards that flow together well in terms of making statements about things that people want to manifest in their lives, we can bring the group energy to bear to help make that happen.

By the way, you don’t need to bring a tarot or other deck to participate, because the Triple Goddess lets us use their demonstrator decks, (which is a good opportunity to “test drive” a lot of different decks), and I bring along some spare decks, too.

We’ll also have some sort of seasonal activity or other activity involving tarot and/or magic.  One of the things I hope to achieve with these sessions is show that a small group of people can “do magic” sitting around a table, without a great deal of preparation or props. Also, the techniques we explore are the sort of things you can easily do with other groups, should you be involved in or decide to start your own tarot group or other sort of magical study group, or even as something fun to do when you’re just visiting with friends and family.  Of course, many of the tarot and other techniques can be done as solitary activities, for your own insight.

Here is the new address and contact info for the Triple Goddess: 1824 East Michigan Avenue -- Suite C; Lansing, Michigan 48912; Phone:  (517) 347-2112.  They are about a block WEST of Emil's Restaurant on the same side of the street at the corner of Regent St. and Michigan Ave, (sharing a building with a small brewery).  Also, they have their own parking lot with free parking.

TAROT CARD IMAGES FOR MEDITATION

Now that we are into the winter months, I am no longer doing my casual first Sunday workshops, so I want to thank everyone who dropped by.  I am especially impressed by those of you who came more than once, because it means you were willing to put up with my Aspergerisms!

So, as gray winter days are a good time to curl up and meditate, I’ve been thinking about tarot card images as an aid to contemplation.  As mentioned in my post of June 16^th that discussed a tarot spell for “Hanged Man” type situations, sometimes new artists’ renditions of the tarot cards allow you to come up with card juxtapositions that bring up some striking graphic interrelationships.  While playing around with the Osho Zen Tarot, (put out by the Osho International Foundation in Switzerland, with illustrations by Deva Padma, and manual edited by Sarito Carol Neiman), I found the layout below to be helpful for focusing the mind on meditation:

This is a layout where the card images flow well together, due to coloring plus the mirroring of images.  Notice also how facial imagery in the background is also part of the flow. 

If you have this deck, you could use this arrangement as a focusing exercise, by first laying down the “Turning In” card, (corresponding to the 4 of Cups).  The Osho write-up describes this as a person who “is just watching the antics of the mind.”  The act of watching the mind is the first step in Buddhist meditation training, because it helps you to understand the restless habits of your own mind, which is always in motion.  As the mind settles, however, it can then open to insight.  The Osho deck here also presents an interesting alternative image for the 4 of Cups--capturing the tensions inherent to this card, where the moving, fluid, emotional quality of Water contends with the settling quality of Earth.

To complete the layout, place “Silence” (The Star) above “Turning In,” then place the flanking images, “Inner Voice” (the High Priestess) and “Beyond Illusion” (Judgment) to show the progression from a receptive to an awakened mind.

As an alternative—perhaps if you don’t like the background images of discordant thoughts in the “Turning In” card, you could substitute the “Receptivity” card (corresponding to The Queen of Cups), or place “Receptivity” over “Turning In,” to get the card combination below:

Shining on the Cards

Before I turn to the next theme, I want to say a little more about the Magic of Shining, which is always a sparkling topic, even though we are now closer to Lammas (Aug. 1) than Midsummer (June 21), and we in this latitude of the north are beginning to notice the length of evening light receding.

At the last workshop session, I handed out glass runestones with the rune “Dagaz/Daeg,” i.e. the “Day” rune painted on them in gold, because it relates both to the theme of shining illumination, and runelorists associate it with Midsummer. (This rune figure is like an “x” with the two ends closed with vertical lines, its outline somewhat reminiscent of a stylized axe or a butterfly; some Native Americans used the same figure to denote butterflies in design motifs.) I briefly discussed how you can use that rune magically, when you want to flood some matter or issue with light, (opening things up to full daylight), and also how you can use the runestone itself to amplify positive images in a tarot card layout, (effectively turning it into a tarot spell) by placing the runestone on top of cards where the combined symbolism would be meaningful.

So, to elaborate on the technique: when you get a tarot spread whose good energies you want to stretch, or when you are doing a tarot spell by laying specific cards out to make a visual statement about things you want to manifest in your life, you can enhance your arrangement with things like flowers, crystals, and gemstones, and also with runestones.

On that July 3rd session, one of the questions we put to the cards was, “Where, in my life, can I activate the Magic of Shining?” We did this in combination with mixing the Botticelli and Mantegna decks, because they are embossed with gold and silver, and because the Mantegna features a special assortment of cards not included in the standard tarot. A little while afterward, I tried to reconstruct some of the readings, though because time had passed, my memory may not be a 100 percent. However, yesterday I pulled those cards again to experiment for this blog write-up, and one gentleman’s reading, if I recall correctly, consisted of the Botticelli 3 of Swords, Mantegna’s Grammatica (XXI, Grammar), and the Botticelli High Priestess. Grammatica is in the “Arts and Sciences” class, and the pamphlet that comes with the Mantegna deck explains it as “Memory. Writings remain like an indelible memory.” I would interpret it as meaning that he can extend himself magically be using “shining words,” and I believe he did afterwards mention an interest in composing poetry. Grammar also has to do with the underlying structure of language (as well as other systems), so that is something that can be probed, in line with the High Priestess’s role as one who explores the mysteries below surfaces and appearances. How the first card, the 3 of Swords applies to all that, may suggest creative ways to express human pain and conflict. In the Botticelli 3 of Swords, a beautiful lady holding a lily drags a man, (who is in a prayerful trance), forward by his hair. This may suggest entering a meditative state and then allowing the muse to pull you where she will.

After I lay these cards out, I set the Dagaz runestone on the book the High Priestess is holding. I got an interesting visual effect, because the late afternoon sun was blasting through my glass door at such an angle, and also because the frosted glass runestone is slightly lens-shaped, the intense sunlight caused it to glow, which further illuminated that part of the High Priestess card. This provides a good image for visualization: one can easily imagine the High Priestess opening her book as the light of knowledge shoots forth. Then I set the runestone on the golden vase which the figure of Grammatica carries, considering how one could imagine a consciousness-altering elixir shining through. Then I played around with Loica (XXII, Logic), which another one of our friends got as her focal card, featuring a lady holding a small veiled dragon. The Mantegna brochure’s advice for this card is “think over problems,” so the Dagaz rune placed over the dragon could assist a visualization of the dragon as a messenger whose veil parts as it breathes mentally illuminating light instead of flame. Another lady got Cosmico (XXXIII, labeled as “Vital Functions”) as her key to shining magic, and as this angelic figure holds up the orb of the cosmos, it was easy to set the round, glowing runestone on top of that. (By the way, the Renaissance magician Marsilio Ficino said that an image of the cosmos makes the most powerful talisman.)

I similarly experimented with the other cards that I could recall coming up on the 3rd, and looking over the Mantegna cards in general, the images lend themselves very well to this kind of enhancement. I was somewhat stumped, however, with what to do with card XXXXVII, “Saturno,” which another participant had drawn, because it shows the god Saturn swallowing one of his children. However, it makes for an interesting play on Saturn’s myth if you place the runestone on top of the naked child who is being hefted up to Saturn’s mouth. In the original story, Saturn swallowed his children because he feared one would dethrone him; however, when Jupiter/Zeus was born, the Goddess Rhea, tired of seeing her children devoured, substituted a stone wrapped in swaddling, which Saturn swallowed whole; Rhea then had Zeus reared in secret. So, placing the runestone there can alter the reading, being symbolic of consuming the light of knowledge. This is something you could do if a Saturnine disposition is causing melancholy, or if Saturn in your horoscope is giving you a hardship transit.

Similar principles of decorating card layouts with symbolic objects apply for other runes, magical sigils, gemstones, and small talismans. When I try to think of which tarot cards might be effectively paired with which magical symbols and objects—well I can’t even begin to think about it, it’s too much. The best way to approach this is to let your own readings and personal situations suggest the best enhancements.

Tarot Numerology and Tarot Spells

In the most recent series of posts, I have been demonstrating a number of ways that we can explore the numerology of our birth dates, and the current year 2011, by linking them with tarot card imagery. These techniques include looking at card numbers associated with a person’s birth day, month, and year to get something of a personal tarot portrait. Another technique involves adding the numbers for the birth day and month to get a special card correspondence out of that, and then adding the number/card for the present year, to get another number card signifying something that a person with such a birth day and month might get out of this particular year.

There are, of course, many other configurations you can get by arranging all these numbers, and I invite you to experiment and explore the different possibilities. Some folks my wonder if, with so many different ways of manipulating cards and numbers, this isn’t ultimately some very arbitrary mumbo jumbo. However, if certain images and meanings you derive from them have a special resonance for you, then go with your feelings in pulling new insights from your arrangements.

In addition to using these arrangements for philosophical reflection, you can work with their imagery by turning them into tarot spells. A spell is a multi-media, multi-sensory affirmation, and a tarot spell combines visualizations and verbalizations of things you’d like to manifest in your life with the delightful visual and tactile qualities of the cards. So, for example, if the inmates in one of these layouts hints at certain blessings or certain challenges, you can visualize yourself enjoying the blessings or rising to meet the challenges, while also thinking about practical ways that you can improve or mitigate your circumstances. You can also help empower your spells by finding ways to express the cards’ qualities in daily life.

Now in the course of this discussion, I’ve been using President Obama’s numerology for my examples, and just as you can do tarot spells directed at other people as well as yourself, this may raise some concerns that people might use this knowledge to try to influence other people, whether to help people they admire or hinder people they oppose. There are a number of points to consider in regarding what we view as manipulative magic, and how people who are concerned about acting ethically can avoid it. It goes without saying that no one should project hateful and harmful thoughts and wishes toward anyone else, if for no other reason than that which we put out into the Universe comes back to us by becoming our personal reality. Fortunately, people do have a certain natural level of psychic immunity to suggestions—even magical and subliminal suggestions—that go against their well being or that are repugnant to them. Consequently, although we live in this enormous cauldron of psychic and subliminal influence, where vast numbers of people and institutions are consciously trying to affect our behavior, we tend to respond only to those suggestions for which we already have a predisposition, and treat the rest as so much white noise. In the case of politicians—and especially the president—in a country such as ours, where public opinion is roughly 50-50 on so many issues, you can figure that at any given moment, any number of people are thinking about how they’d either like them to succeed or fail at one thing or another. The actions of presidents and other persons in power do have a bearing on our private lives, so you can’t blame people for pinning so many of their hopes and fears on them.

If you are concerned about the actions and policies of some public figures, and wish to magically convey your ideas for changes or improvements without trying to force your will on them, an ethical way to do that is to perform your spell with the attitude that you are visualizing an ideal of how you believe life can be better if they follow such-and-such a course of action, and that you are holding those images out for their Spiritual Selves—Guardian Angels included—to take up if they acknowledge the beauty and wisdom of the vision.

House Charms for Sunday, June 6th

Just a short note that I will be showing up at the Triple Goddess on Sunday, June 6th, from 1 to 3 p.m. I will bring along the doll houses for the Dollhouse Oracle, and this time I will try to spend more time working with individuals on their house symbolism. I will also share some thoughts on applying Tarot images to your own house for use as house charms, in tarot spells, and in Feng Shui applications. For those who will be able to join us, if you want to bring along a floor plan of your house, (taking note of its compass orientation), we can apply several layers of interpretation to that. In fact, if you have the ability to enlarge your floor plan or sketch it onto a larger sized piece of paper, we can explore its use as a tarot layout. Also, we will continue to open with the bibliomancy, (as part of our “crowd sourcing to Spirit”), so this time we will want to be thinking about how the insights from the bibliomancy might carry over to the house symbolism. I apologize for not writing more, but for now and the next few months, family demands are keeping me particularly busy.

Turning Pages in the Book of Life

Today I want to say a few words about one of the Tarot techniques we tried at the Triple Goddess, last Sunday, September 6^th. In keeping with the beginning of the semester, we asked the cards, “Please show me how I can get the most out of this semester’s learning experience.” (If you’re enrolled in classes, you can apply this literally to your course work, but we’re all students in the School of Life.) Then, we shuffled and cut our decks, then went through them until we came to the first Page card in the pile, because whether the Page was Cups, Wands, Swords, or Pentacles denoted the recommended mode of learning. Also, whichever cards were flanking the Page provided advice on how to, or what sort of matters to, apply that learning style. We then did Tarot spells by selecting cards to gift our Pages with “school supplies” (i.e. the resources we desire), and then to form an image of what we ultimately hope to get out of this season’s learning experience, whether that be at MSU, LCC, or what have you—or the School of Life.

Probably most of us have faced learning challenges which, though initially difficult, were mastered when we were able to achieve a state of “flow,” where we really “got into it” and achieved an “aha” state of comprehension, where things started clicking. The Page that comes up in your reading denotes a mental mode to get into to confront certain learning challenges; if you can emulate that Page’s mode of learning and style of thinking and acting, things will come together for you.

One way to get into character is to think of learning challenges you have faced in the past, where things started falling into place once you either immersed yourself in the Page of Swords’ cutting, intellectual mode of investigating your subject; the Page of Pentacles’ hands-on approach to practical, first-hand experience; the Page of Wands’ eagerly inquisitive, communicative, multi-tasking approach to the subject; or the Page of Cups’ ability to open to the subject emotionally and find spiritual meaning in it. Drawing on these past experiences by evoking those memories as vividly as you can will help you re-capture the confidence and enthusiasm which accompanied your mastery of those situations. Also, when you try to step into the mode of one of the Page cards, (or any court card or other personality card), to accomplish a certain goal, try to adjust your thinking (for the time being) to alter your self image, so you can easily envision yourself thinking and acting like the characters you have chosen to emulate.

Reenacting a particular Page’s mode of learning is a form of regression because it bends time and takes you back to a facet of yourself in your youth—one of your younger self’s ways of engaging the world. I have a theory that when we are able to effect positive forms of regression, this reactivation of an earlier self puts us in a state where we can recapture some of the benefits of the younger mind and body, which include not only rapid learning, but things like high energy and a faster, enhanced healing capacity. I have encountered the term “regression in service of the ego” used in reference to shamanic practitioners, and skillful regression is something of a shamanic, shape-shifting performance. In addition to the use of Tarot imagery, a person could use other hypno-suggestive cues, such as bringing out some toys from your childhood or engaging in activities or going to places that are associated with the positive experiences of your past. Even if you don’t have specific goals, you might want to indulge in this from time to time, just as a way to refresh your energy body.

This Sunday: Spirit Mentors and The School of Life

I have previously brought up the idea that when we gather in a place like The Triple Goddess, where the good vibrations are elevated, it is easier to receive messages from the spirit mentors who are always available to us in an extra-dimensional sort of way—and that our respective spirit helpers are able to hobnob with each other and share information. In regard to Tarot readings, I may also have mentioned that the mere act of getting out a pack of Tarot cards is a way of “signaling to the spirits” because of the motions involved, the attention directed toward the language of symbolism, and the fact that you are doing something that is going outside of your everyday boundaries. At some of my magical chats, I have also talked about how when we are able to act on some of the advice that the spirits are able to give us, that enables them to make some good Karma, because it is actually very difficult for the residents of the Ghost World to earn Karma. (In other words, when we are able to let them help us, we help them.) Because I want to do more to engage these possibilities, for the next three sessions, starting this Sunday, September 6th, I’ll see if we can begin with the form of “collaborative Tarot” we tried last November, where we get advice from multiple spirit mentors. [Note: the basic idea of collaborative Tarot comes from Valerie Sim’s book, “Tarot Outside the Box,” and we’ve been elaborating on that, in a way.]

Then, because September is the month we associate with going back to school, I will demonstrate a special Tarot technique for seeing what this new semester is going to bring. This is literal for those of us who are taking classes, but even if you’re not enrolled in school, we’re all students in the school of life. Along with this, we can bring in Tarot spells for getting the “school supplies” we need, and getting the most out of the semester’s learning experiences. I shall also pass out a bind-rune for mental potency.

If time permits, I will also demonstrate “The Dollhouse Oracle” which works on the principle that the features of a house engage many metaphors for different states of being. If time does not permit, I’ll make the Dollhouse Oracle the main feature of October’s meeting, which is Sunday, October 4th.