I've had a lot of fun press lately, being on St. Louis TV's Channel 2, 11, and on Show Me St. Louis--all programs titled as reading tarot cards for dogs. Because the segments are short, not all the details of my work are covered, and there are always some things that could be clarified or explained:
First off, please know that I read for ALL animals--not just dogs, which have garnered most of the news attention. Dogs might be the easiest for tarot because they travel well, attend things like Pet Expos and arts fairs, and they are often good in groups (dog parties!). But please know that I am happy to read for most any kind of animal (although to be honest, I don't know how successful I'd be with a fish!). Higher up on the evolutionary chain, I have read for turtles, rabbits, chinchillas, cats, birds, and of course, dogs. I'm up to try reading for any species you'd like to present me--but mammals will likely have the best result.
I do not work from one fixed location, and usually meet my clients at their residence or special event for parties, or at coffee shops and places like that for individual readings. This presents challenges to people wanting an hour-long individual pet reading outside of an organized party. Weather depending, I am happy to meet you and your animal on the outside patio of a Starbucks or elsewhere in the St. Louis area at my $60 an hour rate, versus the $100 party rate. And yes, I am happy to give people readings in this same hour for the owner too.
Cats do not usually travel comfortably, and I don't wish to stress out any pets. I would encourage you to set up a reading with me where I come for a home visit, or to do the reading by Skype or even telephone. No, your cat does not need to meow into the speaker or anything like that. It is your bond with the animal that helps me to read it as much as the animal being there.
On the Show Me St. Louis video, it was noted that I rub the cards on the dog. Yes, I do that when the animal is there in person, just to make more of a connection. This is not essential, and I should be (and am) able to read for your pets, even long-distance, through Skype or by seeing a photo with a name and some basic facts (male or female, if there is a problem you're looking to resolve, etc.).
Here are some of the issues we can explore with your pet:
* behavioral problems and causes
* litter box/housebreaking issues
* physical problems or questions
* unknown histories (for strays)
* repercussions of abuse and neglect
* relationships with other pets and with people
* the pet's wants and needs
* the pet's general quality of happiness
Please keep in mind that I don't have the tools to talk back to the animal! I'm just getting basic understandings of what is going on with your little (or big) friend and what might be done to prevent future misbehavior, etc. Sometimes, it's as easy as changing a brand of cat litter. In the reading I did for the news host this weekend, I saw a bored dog who needed something to occupy his time (he had apparently chewed up and destroyed a dog bed recently!). I can usually identify jealousies, dogs who insist upon being the leader of the pack, fears and peculiar habits. What you as the pet owner decide to do with this knowledge is up to you, and I cannot promise anything but information.
Finally, please keep in mind that anyone who loves their pet enough to care about correcting problems is a good pet owner already. Don't beat yourself up if I see something you might be able to improve upon. Just as our human lives are not entirely perfect and there may be some things we want and need on occasion, so it is with our animals. It does not make you a bad person if your pet is not fully content at all times. Are you? What pets need more than anything is food, shelter, occasional vet care, and love and attention. If you're doing that, the rest is gravy.
© Julia Gordon-Bramer 2012
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Ghost Adventures
The other day, while giving a tarot reading in a booth in the St. Louis Bread Company to a client, an older woman walked up to us and said, "a Ouija board! You're fooling with the Devil!" She couldn't have been farther off, and I gently corrected her, told her it was the tarot, not Ouija, and that as she could see, no spirits were lurking about us.
Many times, I am asked if I am a medium, or if I talk to spirits. In an older blog, I had posted about some Ouija experiences (my joke being that the Ouija does not believe in me--I've never been successful with it). Because psychics and tarot readers are always lumped in with the spirit world, I wanted to make some clarifications and share what I know.
Tarot, which shares the framework of the Qabalah, therefore reflects Qabalah power whether one studies Qabalah or not. Qabalists believe that we all share part of the same great spirit just by virtue of being alive. I call this great spirit God. The psychologist Carl Jung called it the "Collective Unconscious." You call it what you want. But with this in mind, we all have a piece of God, or this higher consciousness--great power within ourselves. Tarot and Qabalah are about harnessing our God power and making a positive impact on ourselves, our loved ones, and the world through higher understandings.
So--ghosts, demons, and spirits:
I have heard of people plagued by poltergeists. Qabalah teaches that poltergeists, very specifically, are repressed energies that manifest outside of an individual. When this crazy kind of playful or even destructive energy appears, it comes from someone unwilling to face deep inner issues. These repressed feelings will come out, one way or another. In the average person, they might come out in the more traditional manner of self-sabotaging behavior or addiction. But Qabalah teaches that there are the handful who dissociate so much from their own energy that they push it outside of their own bodies.
Occasionally, when I am sleepy and there is nothing on television, I'll watch that cable TV show, "Ghost Adventures" on the Travel Channel. I am always disappointed. It's mainly a chance for that Zak guy to show off his muscles and stupid hair. But I digress. I do not dispute that Zak and his gang are actually hearing muffled voices (which they painfully strain to identify as saying something relevant), bumps, thumps, and the occasional flying or falling object. This is psychokinesis in action. Psychokinesis is basically when mental energy is so concentrated (and collected, among the group of them) to cause physical disturbance. Spoon bending, table turning, levitations, great strength in times of emergency, and all the other physical unexplainables would fall into this category. They simply wish for it so much that it becomes reality.
We are all far more powerful than we realize.
The Jewish Torah, which shares a great deal with Qabalah (Kabbalah, in this case) warns against the ease in which one can fall into misusing the occult. Deuteronomy 8:10 discusses divination through "charmed" natural instruments. The Jews believe that direct conversation with the dead interferes with this life and a relationship with the living God. The practicing Jew, and the Kabbalist/Qabalist/Cabalist, therefore does not seek to conjure dead spirits. Qabalists do, however, actively use astrology, astral projection, linguistic numerology and alchemy--all practices to find the divinity and God-power within one's self. I suppose this might be the difference between "black magic" and "white magic."
When one plays with Ouija boards, or crystal balls, dowsing or scrying, automatic writing, or any other number of occult objects designed to communicate with a spirit world, this "channeling" is really finding a way to open up to the subconscious. Ouija and the like get dangerous when one dwells too much in the subconscious, either losing touch with reality, or not taking responsibility for actions, shifting responsibility over to the spirit world. The subconscious can bring to light revelations that the conscious mind is simply not ready to handle. Facing God (full reality) can be frightening.
So, do I believe in a spirit world? Absolutely--but please understand that the tarot is not really a part of that, outside of the fact that the spirit world is a part of everything. When you make an appointment with me, I am not conjuring spirits, lighting candles, saying incantations and the like. The reality is that I am usually sitting opposite someone in the Bread Company, or speaking to you over the phone, interpreting cards in the way one might interpret dreams. It is part a counseling session too, with my sharing advice as the Qabalah would direct. I believe Marianne Williamson when she says, "The Devil is all in your head--and that's the worst place he could be."
© Julia Gordon-Bramer 2012
Many times, I am asked if I am a medium, or if I talk to spirits. In an older blog, I had posted about some Ouija experiences (my joke being that the Ouija does not believe in me--I've never been successful with it). Because psychics and tarot readers are always lumped in with the spirit world, I wanted to make some clarifications and share what I know.
Tarot, which shares the framework of the Qabalah, therefore reflects Qabalah power whether one studies Qabalah or not. Qabalists believe that we all share part of the same great spirit just by virtue of being alive. I call this great spirit God. The psychologist Carl Jung called it the "Collective Unconscious." You call it what you want. But with this in mind, we all have a piece of God, or this higher consciousness--great power within ourselves. Tarot and Qabalah are about harnessing our God power and making a positive impact on ourselves, our loved ones, and the world through higher understandings.
So--ghosts, demons, and spirits:
I have heard of people plagued by poltergeists. Qabalah teaches that poltergeists, very specifically, are repressed energies that manifest outside of an individual. When this crazy kind of playful or even destructive energy appears, it comes from someone unwilling to face deep inner issues. These repressed feelings will come out, one way or another. In the average person, they might come out in the more traditional manner of self-sabotaging behavior or addiction. But Qabalah teaches that there are the handful who dissociate so much from their own energy that they push it outside of their own bodies.
Occasionally, when I am sleepy and there is nothing on television, I'll watch that cable TV show, "Ghost Adventures" on the Travel Channel. I am always disappointed. It's mainly a chance for that Zak guy to show off his muscles and stupid hair. But I digress. I do not dispute that Zak and his gang are actually hearing muffled voices (which they painfully strain to identify as saying something relevant), bumps, thumps, and the occasional flying or falling object. This is psychokinesis in action. Psychokinesis is basically when mental energy is so concentrated (and collected, among the group of them) to cause physical disturbance. Spoon bending, table turning, levitations, great strength in times of emergency, and all the other physical unexplainables would fall into this category. They simply wish for it so much that it becomes reality.
We are all far more powerful than we realize.
The Jewish Torah, which shares a great deal with Qabalah (Kabbalah, in this case) warns against the ease in which one can fall into misusing the occult. Deuteronomy 8:10 discusses divination through "charmed" natural instruments. The Jews believe that direct conversation with the dead interferes with this life and a relationship with the living God. The practicing Jew, and the Kabbalist/Qabalist/Cabalist, therefore does not seek to conjure dead spirits. Qabalists do, however, actively use astrology, astral projection, linguistic numerology and alchemy--all practices to find the divinity and God-power within one's self. I suppose this might be the difference between "black magic" and "white magic."
When one plays with Ouija boards, or crystal balls, dowsing or scrying, automatic writing, or any other number of occult objects designed to communicate with a spirit world, this "channeling" is really finding a way to open up to the subconscious. Ouija and the like get dangerous when one dwells too much in the subconscious, either losing touch with reality, or not taking responsibility for actions, shifting responsibility over to the spirit world. The subconscious can bring to light revelations that the conscious mind is simply not ready to handle. Facing God (full reality) can be frightening.
So, do I believe in a spirit world? Absolutely--but please understand that the tarot is not really a part of that, outside of the fact that the spirit world is a part of everything. When you make an appointment with me, I am not conjuring spirits, lighting candles, saying incantations and the like. The reality is that I am usually sitting opposite someone in the Bread Company, or speaking to you over the phone, interpreting cards in the way one might interpret dreams. It is part a counseling session too, with my sharing advice as the Qabalah would direct. I believe Marianne Williamson when she says, "The Devil is all in your head--and that's the worst place he could be."
© Julia Gordon-Bramer 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
A Reading Regret
I have this situation haunting me. When this happens, I know that energy from the other people involved is keeping me connected to it, and to them. It was one of those moments when I chose to be "professional" instead of to be real, and it is a regret. Allow me to explain:
It began when I was driving west down Highway 40, on my way to a tarot job. This person I used to date almost twenty years ago just popped into my mind. Out of the blue, for no apparent reason. It had been one of those impossible transitional relationships, during my divorce--it couldn't have worked for so many reasons. But at the time, I was feeling so weak and beaten down, wanting to prove I was lovable, wanting to prove there was a relationship I had not failed at, and I kept at it for far too long. We do this to ourselves: we choose relationships that will reinforce our inner beliefs. We choose people who cannot love us when we don't know how to love ourselves. When the inner beliefs are wrong, the relationships are doomed. Anyway, this young man and I ended up having a very ugly split. I saw him a couple times around town, even years later, and he would always turn away.
Ugh, right?
So there I was, driving down the road, and for some reason he came into my mind. I thought nothing else about it.
I met my clients: an older woman and her younger friend. The older woman had seen me read at an event in Saks Fifth Avenue and wanted to schedule her own appointment. Lovely women. The younger one read tarot herself, which I was glad of later for reasons I'll soon explain.
The older woman's reading was first, and I don't recall much of it. Usually I do not remember the readings I do for others. They leave me almost as soon as they happen. I often compare them to dreams, when you're left with little fleeting fragments.
The younger one I remember quite a lot about though, although I don't recall her name. She had a boyfriend who I saw in the cards, and she told me his name.
"Oh, that's my son's name," I said. It is not a name you hear too often. Coincidentally, it is also the name of the past boyfriend I'd had, who had just popped into my mind. But that guy would be in his forties now, long gone from this area, probably married with a family. I didn't even bring it up.
Things kept coming up in her cards. I saw her boyfriend as the Magician card: very attractive, talented, and completely immature (the Magician is Number One in the tarot's major arcana of 22 cards. He has a long way to go). This sounded like my old boyfriend too, but of course, at the time I knew him almost 20 years ago, he WAS a kid.
So, I saw this guy being kind of a delightful distraction for this young woman, and their relationship not lasting forever. She asked about his past and his family. I saw his father, in this particular deck (the Shadowscapes deck), as the Emperor shaman. The medicine man.
It was about this point when I said internally, "Holy sh#t."
Tarot never fails to amaze me. My old boyfriend's father had been a pharmacist. I remembered that much. The mother card was put down next, and it was a princess (equivalent to the pages in the traditional deck, representing children and teenagers). My old boyfriend's mother was just a teenager when his father, considerably older, married her. I remembered this to be true, as well. It's a hard story to forget. I told the facts to my client as I saw them, leaving my memories out. As a tarot reader herself, she could see the cards and know the meanings plainly. Both of us marveled, me for reasons I did not share.
Internally, I was doing battle: should I share with her that he had once been my boyfriend? Logic told me, without asking his last name, that I did not know this for sure. But tarot, of course, does not operate on logic. Feelings told me that this was my old boyfriend's life we were looking into.
The entire time, I wanted to say, "is his last name...?" I wanted to tell her what was on my mind, but professionalism kept me from speaking. I thought it might potentially embarrass her. Or me. There should always be distance between me and a client, right? These were the battles in my head.
We wrapped the reading up. The women and I had bonded, despite my withholding of my own past with him. If it was him. What if I were wrong and it was someone else? Better to keep quiet. We hugged and they promised to call again. I gave them both my card, knowing that the young woman would probably show it to the boyfriend. Knowing he'd probably say, "Well, of course she was right. She knows everything about me!" The woman had seen the cards herself to know I had not orchestrated that. They called me--I did not call them. Still, I felt somehow wrong for not coming clean.
The energy of this situation, which happened at least six months ago, is still all around me today. I feel haunted, and wonder if the girl feels betrayed, if my ex feels scammed, I wonder just why this event won't die in my mind. Psychic energy is such a weird thing. We are all so connected--far beyond our understandings.
I would like to think that maybe I am writing this today to draw their attention, that one or both of them will read it. To show the awkwardness of my position, both in knowing, and not knowing, her reading. To tell my ex that a lot has changed, there are no hard feelings, and I wish him peace and love as he travels that major arcana to The World card.
© Julia Gordon-Bramer 2012
It began when I was driving west down Highway 40, on my way to a tarot job. This person I used to date almost twenty years ago just popped into my mind. Out of the blue, for no apparent reason. It had been one of those impossible transitional relationships, during my divorce--it couldn't have worked for so many reasons. But at the time, I was feeling so weak and beaten down, wanting to prove I was lovable, wanting to prove there was a relationship I had not failed at, and I kept at it for far too long. We do this to ourselves: we choose relationships that will reinforce our inner beliefs. We choose people who cannot love us when we don't know how to love ourselves. When the inner beliefs are wrong, the relationships are doomed. Anyway, this young man and I ended up having a very ugly split. I saw him a couple times around town, even years later, and he would always turn away.
Ugh, right?
So there I was, driving down the road, and for some reason he came into my mind. I thought nothing else about it.
I met my clients: an older woman and her younger friend. The older woman had seen me read at an event in Saks Fifth Avenue and wanted to schedule her own appointment. Lovely women. The younger one read tarot herself, which I was glad of later for reasons I'll soon explain.
The older woman's reading was first, and I don't recall much of it. Usually I do not remember the readings I do for others. They leave me almost as soon as they happen. I often compare them to dreams, when you're left with little fleeting fragments.
The younger one I remember quite a lot about though, although I don't recall her name. She had a boyfriend who I saw in the cards, and she told me his name.
"Oh, that's my son's name," I said. It is not a name you hear too often. Coincidentally, it is also the name of the past boyfriend I'd had, who had just popped into my mind. But that guy would be in his forties now, long gone from this area, probably married with a family. I didn't even bring it up.
Things kept coming up in her cards. I saw her boyfriend as the Magician card: very attractive, talented, and completely immature (the Magician is Number One in the tarot's major arcana of 22 cards. He has a long way to go). This sounded like my old boyfriend too, but of course, at the time I knew him almost 20 years ago, he WAS a kid.
So, I saw this guy being kind of a delightful distraction for this young woman, and their relationship not lasting forever. She asked about his past and his family. I saw his father, in this particular deck (the Shadowscapes deck), as the Emperor shaman. The medicine man.
It was about this point when I said internally, "Holy sh#t."
Tarot never fails to amaze me. My old boyfriend's father had been a pharmacist. I remembered that much. The mother card was put down next, and it was a princess (equivalent to the pages in the traditional deck, representing children and teenagers). My old boyfriend's mother was just a teenager when his father, considerably older, married her. I remembered this to be true, as well. It's a hard story to forget. I told the facts to my client as I saw them, leaving my memories out. As a tarot reader herself, she could see the cards and know the meanings plainly. Both of us marveled, me for reasons I did not share.
Internally, I was doing battle: should I share with her that he had once been my boyfriend? Logic told me, without asking his last name, that I did not know this for sure. But tarot, of course, does not operate on logic. Feelings told me that this was my old boyfriend's life we were looking into.
The entire time, I wanted to say, "is his last name...?" I wanted to tell her what was on my mind, but professionalism kept me from speaking. I thought it might potentially embarrass her. Or me. There should always be distance between me and a client, right? These were the battles in my head.
We wrapped the reading up. The women and I had bonded, despite my withholding of my own past with him. If it was him. What if I were wrong and it was someone else? Better to keep quiet. We hugged and they promised to call again. I gave them both my card, knowing that the young woman would probably show it to the boyfriend. Knowing he'd probably say, "Well, of course she was right. She knows everything about me!" The woman had seen the cards herself to know I had not orchestrated that. They called me--I did not call them. Still, I felt somehow wrong for not coming clean.
The energy of this situation, which happened at least six months ago, is still all around me today. I feel haunted, and wonder if the girl feels betrayed, if my ex feels scammed, I wonder just why this event won't die in my mind. Psychic energy is such a weird thing. We are all so connected--far beyond our understandings.
I would like to think that maybe I am writing this today to draw their attention, that one or both of them will read it. To show the awkwardness of my position, both in knowing, and not knowing, her reading. To tell my ex that a lot has changed, there are no hard feelings, and I wish him peace and love as he travels that major arcana to The World card.
© Julia Gordon-Bramer 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
National TV!
The blessings continue, and it looks like Nick At Nite will be featuring Yours Truly as a guest on a reality TV show, for their new "NickMom" series coming out later this year. The show I'll be on features two housewives in St. Louis, with a working title of "The Judi and Kate Show," but I suspect that will be changed. My episode will be taped this weekend; I am the tarot reader who will be a guest at a daughter's graduation party, reading for the stars. Should be fun--watch for me in the Fall!
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Star (and Card) Wars
When Gandhi said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world," he did not mean to be the model citizen. What he meant was that when there is war outside of us, for instance, we need to look for the war inside of us, and correct that. Like most people, I keep forgetting this.
I've got a little war going on, and it's the strangest one that I ever could have imagined--over the Tarot cards. At first I thought it was a joke. I thought it was initiated by someone I'd had a falling-out with as a kind of a sick joke, but I did my homework and this is for real.
There is this group of people--amazingly, more than one--who stalk me and other Tarot readers with any kind of success. They try and sabotage my reputation through videos, through blog comments, etc. They believe it is their job in this life to make Tarot a game. Tarot began as a game, sure, but they are hell-bent on bringing Tarot readers down who use Tarot for divination purposes. Astronomy began, really, as astrology--closer to a religion. Does this mean the stars should only be used for zodiac purposes? That penicillin, derived accidentally when one was looking for a cure for food poisoning, should only be used for what it was intended? It is all so silly.
It's quite perplexing. I mean, there are people dying of hunger, AIDS... surely there are more worthy causes to put one's energy into than fighting a one-sided war that perhaps maybe only about ten people in the entire world care about anyway. Fighting a cause where no one is hurt and some are maybe even helped?
So, I have to turn back to Gandhi, and to myself, and say, "Just what the heck is going on here?" If everything is a mirror, as the Qabalah, from which the Tarot is intentionally or unintentionally (and therefore, miraculously) structured (see two blogs ago for more on that), then I need to look at my feelings for these people. The first is a feeling of attack, which I understand from my spiritual work as coming from a place of feeling utterly powerless and needing to matter, in any way that can be recognized. So I know that, even with my successes of out of the country symposiums and conferences, of publications and media appearances, there is a part of me that still feels this sadness too.
The second thing that I feel is simply overwhelmed by the incredible waste of time! I know that I have a judgment on these people and any meaningful purpose they have in this world. Have these people NOTHING better to do than to harass a person unknown to them? And so, I must turn to myself again: Where am I wasting time? Am I running so fast and hard toward purpose that I forget I already have it (and so do they), just by being a child of God? That is something to look at. While I consider myself to be a fairly efficient worker and high producer between my writing, scholarship, teaching and Tarot, there can always be some pockets of my schedule better-spent. I will work on that.
I thought this might be a carryover from negative feelings left from that person I'd had the falling out with, whom I mentioned earlier. I searched my soul, and even did some detective work on the Internet because I'd had some uneasy vibes and dream communications from him. I consciously banished all bad feelings. After all, if I had kept this person in my life, none of my successes or happinesses would have ever happened. Knowing him was a spiritual and creative blessing to me, and his leaving was a greater one still. And should he search his heart, he knows the same is true for him.
The people that I have not-so-affectionately coined "The Tarot Crazies" will probably continue their crusade. I will battle them, I suppose, by working to correct the places within me that still struggle with peace, with wanting to waste time, and with not believing I'm enough. Maybe if the rest of us are the change we want to see in the world, games will not become wars and Tarot will be viewed with an open mind, for any purpose one wants for it. And maybe, just maybe, I'll be glad these people once wandered through my life, too.
© Julia Gordon-Bramer 2012
I've got a little war going on, and it's the strangest one that I ever could have imagined--over the Tarot cards. At first I thought it was a joke. I thought it was initiated by someone I'd had a falling-out with as a kind of a sick joke, but I did my homework and this is for real.
There is this group of people--amazingly, more than one--who stalk me and other Tarot readers with any kind of success. They try and sabotage my reputation through videos, through blog comments, etc. They believe it is their job in this life to make Tarot a game. Tarot began as a game, sure, but they are hell-bent on bringing Tarot readers down who use Tarot for divination purposes. Astronomy began, really, as astrology--closer to a religion. Does this mean the stars should only be used for zodiac purposes? That penicillin, derived accidentally when one was looking for a cure for food poisoning, should only be used for what it was intended? It is all so silly.
It's quite perplexing. I mean, there are people dying of hunger, AIDS... surely there are more worthy causes to put one's energy into than fighting a one-sided war that perhaps maybe only about ten people in the entire world care about anyway. Fighting a cause where no one is hurt and some are maybe even helped?
So, I have to turn back to Gandhi, and to myself, and say, "Just what the heck is going on here?" If everything is a mirror, as the Qabalah, from which the Tarot is intentionally or unintentionally (and therefore, miraculously) structured (see two blogs ago for more on that), then I need to look at my feelings for these people. The first is a feeling of attack, which I understand from my spiritual work as coming from a place of feeling utterly powerless and needing to matter, in any way that can be recognized. So I know that, even with my successes of out of the country symposiums and conferences, of publications and media appearances, there is a part of me that still feels this sadness too.
The second thing that I feel is simply overwhelmed by the incredible waste of time! I know that I have a judgment on these people and any meaningful purpose they have in this world. Have these people NOTHING better to do than to harass a person unknown to them? And so, I must turn to myself again: Where am I wasting time? Am I running so fast and hard toward purpose that I forget I already have it (and so do they), just by being a child of God? That is something to look at. While I consider myself to be a fairly efficient worker and high producer between my writing, scholarship, teaching and Tarot, there can always be some pockets of my schedule better-spent. I will work on that.
I thought this might be a carryover from negative feelings left from that person I'd had the falling out with, whom I mentioned earlier. I searched my soul, and even did some detective work on the Internet because I'd had some uneasy vibes and dream communications from him. I consciously banished all bad feelings. After all, if I had kept this person in my life, none of my successes or happinesses would have ever happened. Knowing him was a spiritual and creative blessing to me, and his leaving was a greater one still. And should he search his heart, he knows the same is true for him.
The people that I have not-so-affectionately coined "The Tarot Crazies" will probably continue their crusade. I will battle them, I suppose, by working to correct the places within me that still struggle with peace, with wanting to waste time, and with not believing I'm enough. Maybe if the rest of us are the change we want to see in the world, games will not become wars and Tarot will be viewed with an open mind, for any purpose one wants for it. And maybe, just maybe, I'll be glad these people once wandered through my life, too.
© Julia Gordon-Bramer 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Fox 2 News
I was on Fox 2 News and KPLR Channel 11 yesterday reading Tarot for pets. Check it out here.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Tarot, Ancient Symbols, and the Qabalah
Sometimes people wonder how the Tarot corresponds to the Qabalah Tree of Life (also spelled in derivations of "Kabbalah," for the Jewish system, and "Cabala," for the Christian brand).
Here is an easy visual to explain:
If you'd like to read more, there is a pretty good overview here.
The illustrations on modern day Tarot cards all incorporate elements of myth, alchemy, astrology, astronomy, practices and rites going back to ancient times. Look at the Magician card, number one in the major arcana, for example:
He represents Hermes Trismegistus, the ancient Greek's god of magic and communication melded with the Egyptian Thoth. He is for whom Hermeticism, or practitioners of occult Qabalah, take their name. Hermes holds his wand to the heavens and his hand points to the ground, representing the Hermetic principle, "As above, so below." He is the number one, so he is the initiate, learning. The tools on his table represent the four elements of the earth (and the four suits of the tarot): air/swords, water/cups, fire/wands, and pentacles/earth.
Another example of ancient symbolism is the High Priestess card:
She is the Egyptian Isis, the most powerful and spiritual woman in the Tarot deck. She sits between King Solomon's pillars of Mercy and Severity ("Boaz" and "Jachin"), written of in the Bible. Behind her is a veil, representing the occult (meaning "hidden"), and pomegranates, the fruit Persephone ate that kept her in Hades for one dark season of winter (this myth representing the triple goddess of maiden, mother and crone). Isis sits with her foot on the crescent moon, as the moon's 28-day cycle reflects the feminine on earth.
There are many other legends and symbols built into Tarot cards, with the idea being that these, like Jung's universal archetypes that touch the collective unconscious in us all, open intuition and understanding of one's self and others.
While it's true that Tarot started as a card game, the evidence shows it to be much, much greater than that.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to send me your questions and I will blog on them as I have time.
© Julia Gordon-Bramer 2012
Here is an easy visual to explain:
If you'd like to read more, there is a pretty good overview here.
The illustrations on modern day Tarot cards all incorporate elements of myth, alchemy, astrology, astronomy, practices and rites going back to ancient times. Look at the Magician card, number one in the major arcana, for example:
He represents Hermes Trismegistus, the ancient Greek's god of magic and communication melded with the Egyptian Thoth. He is for whom Hermeticism, or practitioners of occult Qabalah, take their name. Hermes holds his wand to the heavens and his hand points to the ground, representing the Hermetic principle, "As above, so below." He is the number one, so he is the initiate, learning. The tools on his table represent the four elements of the earth (and the four suits of the tarot): air/swords, water/cups, fire/wands, and pentacles/earth.
Another example of ancient symbolism is the High Priestess card:
She is the Egyptian Isis, the most powerful and spiritual woman in the Tarot deck. She sits between King Solomon's pillars of Mercy and Severity ("Boaz" and "Jachin"), written of in the Bible. Behind her is a veil, representing the occult (meaning "hidden"), and pomegranates, the fruit Persephone ate that kept her in Hades for one dark season of winter (this myth representing the triple goddess of maiden, mother and crone). Isis sits with her foot on the crescent moon, as the moon's 28-day cycle reflects the feminine on earth.
There are many other legends and symbols built into Tarot cards, with the idea being that these, like Jung's universal archetypes that touch the collective unconscious in us all, open intuition and understanding of one's self and others.
While it's true that Tarot started as a card game, the evidence shows it to be much, much greater than that.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to send me your questions and I will blog on them as I have time.
© Julia Gordon-Bramer 2012
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