In readings that I did for myself during the last quarter of 2011 and in conversations with my council of trees (another story for another time), I was informed that this would be the year in which I would be immersed in my Tarot and metaphysical work and that this would be a year of great movement. The train is on the tracks, it has left the station, and will now go at a pretty fast pace down the tracks. So far, this has been absolutely true. My cards and my trees weren’t kidding.

I’m now working on a number of projects, a few of which (unfortunately) need to be executed and completed within the same timeframe. I’m certainly not going to be bored any time soon!

• Psychic fairs. The psychic fair season is gearing up in my area, and I’m participating in a number of the larger fairs in the next few months. These fairs are loads of fun and I’m usually pretty busy all day. You can find information on these events on my website’s calendar. http://justenoughtarot.com/TarotCalendar.aspx

• New services. I’ve provided Tarot classes and seminars and done some mentoring throughout the past couple of years, but it was on a somewhat casual basis. I’ve decided to pursue these activities more actively starting this year and will soon list them on my website. I’ll also most likely offer phone readings, too. Keep an eye on my website for details.

• Tarosophist International Magazine I’m continuing to write articles for this magazine. I just love to contribute to the wealth of knowledge the magazine provides. It’s a superb publication and I’m so pleased to be in the company of such great authors and writers.

• Reader’s Studio 2012. I’m attending this wonderful event again this year, and I’m looking forward to seeing many of my Tarot friends and colleagues in New York. This year I’m doing an evening study group session titled Professional Presentation Skills 101 from 9:00-11:00 on Saturday, April 28^th. You can find out more information on my session here (http://tarotschool.com/RS12/RS12_Hernandez.html) and more about the event here (http://www.tarotschool.com/RS12/index.html).

• Books. I’m determined to write my Tarot book this year. (It’s been in the works for two years now.) It will be on intermediate techniques, and I’ll have more info about it on my website as the work progresses. Additionally, I’m working on the third edition of my technical book “Database Design for Mere Mortals”. I hadn’t planned on working on this until later this year, but my publisher contacted me just before New Year’s and asked me if we could get going on this soon. How could I refuse?

• Website and Facebook. On top of all this, I have to revamp my website and Facebook page. I really don’t want to do this, but the situations are such that I must do so. I currently have my website hosted by Microsoft Office Small Business Live (OSBL). Well, Microsoft is closing down OSBL and wants everyone to move to Office 365 (O365). The services and fees they charge me won’t change (for the most part), but I stand to lose all of my site content if I do not migrate to O365 by April 1^st. (Long story – I may blog on this later.) Regarding Facebook: I’ve been told that everyone needs to migrate to the new “Timeline” style and theme by the end of February (I think). If you do not move to the new style yourself, FB will do it for you. And maybe not quite how you think your content should be moved. (Another long story which I may blog about later, too.)

As I said, my readings and my trees told me that I was going to hit the ground running this year, but I had no idea that things would be piling up and moving this fast. I have to say, though, that I wouldn’t have it any other way. My Information Technology life is definitely over, and I’m now dedicated to a new career in the metaphysical realm as a professional Tarotist, which includes being a reader, teacher, speaker and writer. I have a good life, I’m having a great time, and I just love what I do!

I now have my life back. Our unit will look like home again. I can bring back our books and various nick-nacks from storage. I can get up at 9:00am again. I can actually close this year out on a high note and start 2012 with a clean slate. (In more ways than one…)

It’s been a very long seven months, but it was definitely well worth the wait. All of the units in our complex now have new roofs, new insulation and weatherproofing, new earthquake resistance structures, new siding, new decks, new windows, new paint, and new lighting. In essence, the outer structures of our buildings were literally rebuilt. As you’ll soon see, everything looks great!

It was a very stressful experience and there were quite a number of inconveniences along the way, but we did learn a lot about buildings, structures construction, and the construction process. My wife and I will certainly put all this experience to good use when we finally decide to move from our condo into a house.

Before and After…

The real push involving the completion of interior work and painting the buildings came during the last eight weeks. I’m so happy that the construction and painting crews were able to take advantage of our unseasonably good weather. It was definitely a bonus for them and for us!

Here are some final shots of a few significant areas. I thought you’d like to see where we started (per se) and what it looks like now. The change is incredible. A number of us who have been here for 10+ years feel like we’re living in a whole new complex.

Overall View of Buildings

Top: As they looked in 2010.

Middle: During construction.

Bottom: Completed look as of 21 December, 2011.

Our bedroom window.

Left: During reconstruction.

Middle: With new siding and windows.

Right: Completed look as of 21 December, 2011.

Overall View of Decks

Left: During reconstruction.

Right: Completed look as of 21 December, 2011.

Our Deck

Left: During reconstruction.

Right: Completed look as of 21 December, 2011.

The changes are remarkable, don’t you think?

Although the work from the construction crews is finished, there are still a few things we need to do before life gets back to normal completely. We still have to do some painting (a result of interior drywall work), restock our bookshelves with the books we socked away during the construction, rehang the artwork we had on the walls, and install new blinds on all of the windows.

We’ve decided to take our time and do all of this over the next two or three weeks; we’ve already been rushing around enough as it is! Fortunately, this also allows us to enjoy the holidays in a much more relaxed and happier manner.

Parting Thoughts

Now that this is all over (with the exception of the few things I mentioned above), I can finally get back to business. I have a lot of catching up to do, and I’m sure folks will be happy to hear from me again. (At least, I hope so!)

Here’s a brief idea of what I’ll be doing moving forward into 2012:

• Return to doing readings at various metaphysical stores
• Participate more often in the Facebook and LinkedIn groups of which I’m a member
• Post a little more frequently on my blog
• Catch up on my Hekademia courses (an on-line set of Tarot classes taught by Marcus Katz at Tarot Professionals)
• Continue writing my articles for the Tarosophist International Magazine
• Get back to writing my Tarot book in earnest
• Prepare for my evening session at the 2012 Reader’s Studio
• Continue working with Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin of Tarot Professionals on a couple of upcoming projects

There’s more coming up, but I’ll reveal it as the new year unfolds. Until then, stay tuned…

In Part 1, I explained how I see the relationship between the Emperor and the four kings of the minor arcana and demonstrated how I thought the Emperor encompasses all of the qualities of the kings. In this article (Part 2), I continue this train of thought and discuss how I see the relationship between the Empress and the four queens.

“Behind every great man is a great woman.” This has definitely seemed to be the case throughout my lifetime. I think late 19^th century satirist and writer Ambrose Bierce eloquently made this point with his description of a queen:

QUEEN, n. A woman by whom the realm is ruled when there is a king, and through whom it is ruled when there is not.

Ambrose Bierce

Note that this statement actually expands upon my initial quote because it implies that a queen has great power due to her influence in the throne as well as behind the throne. Even so, I still have the same type of question about the queen that I had about the king: wouldn’t it be even better to be an empress?

Who really ranks higher: an Empress or a Queen?

This question came to mind immediately after I saw the relationship between the Emperor and the four kings. It occurred to me once again that there are four queens in the Tarot but only one empress. This also struck me as odd. I decided to explore this in the same manner as I did with the Emperor and the four kings, which is to look at the relationship between these cards as people.

I went back to my trusty Oxford English Dictionary to get an answer to this question, and here’s what I found.

Empress A woman emperor. ⁽¹⁾

Queen A female sovereign, especially the hereditary ruler of an independent state. ⁽²⁾

There is virtually no difference between these definitions and the definitions for an emperor and a king. The empress seems to be of higher rank than a queen, especially given the fact that the empress rules an empire. Those of you who possibly missed or have not yet read Part 1 of this article might be wondering whether an independent state can be considered an empire. I asked the same question when I was thinking about the emperor and four kings, so I took a look in the dictionary and here’s what I found.

Empire An extensive group of states or countries under a single supreme authority. ⁽³⁾

Kingdom An organized community headed by a king; the territory subject to a king. ⁽⁴⁾

An empire is much greater than a kingdom, so the empress is definitely of higher rank than a queen. While we’re on the subject of empires and kingdoms, consider this: Based on these descriptions, you could say that an empire consists of a set of kingdoms. Keep this in mind, as it will be an important point soon. Now let’s look at the Empress and queens a little more closely.

NOTE: This note appeared in Part 1, but I thought I’d repeat it again here for clarity.

 

I want to set a little context here before we go any further. I believe, as most of you likely do, that we have both a male and female aspects to our persona. Some of us have a stronger male side, others have a stronger female side, and still others are relatively balanced. This is an important concept because I believe the traits and aspects of the Emperor/Kings and the Empress/Queens apply to everyone, regardless of gender.

 

I focus mainly on the positive qualities of these individuals in my discussion. My specific intent is to show you how I perceive the relationships between the Emperor and the kings, so I need to describe each of them just enough to provide some context for those relationships. You can find more thorough explanations of these cards in the many good Tarot books out on the market.

The Empress – Supreme Feminine Ruler of the Temporal Realm

The Empress is commonly considered to be the archetypical matriarch and feminine ruler of the temporal realm (the High Priestess being her counterpart for the spiritual realm). She is the epitome of the female aspect.  She is grounded, patient, strong, thoughtful, intelligent, a good communicator, caring, compassionate, sympathetic, pragmatic, deliberate and sociable. The Empress can be hospitable or snobbish, understanding or intolerant, generous or jealous, and, like the Emperor, a great ally or a feared enemy.

She is someone you may meet in your life’s journey, which may be advantageous or detrimental depending on when, where and how you meet her. She’ll definitely make her presence known to you, though. On a more personal level, she could represent a type of person you should aspire to be. There will come times in your life when you might need to embrace particular qualities of the Empress so that you can work through an issue or deal with a given situation that’s going on in your life with patience, grace, self-confidence and a good dose of pragmatism.

The Queens – Female Monarchs of the Four Suits

The four queens in the Tarot represent each of the four suits in the minor arcana, and each queen is the epitome of the feminine qualities of the suit she represents.

The Queen of Pentacles is the sovereign of earth and governs the physical aspect of life. She’s concerned with family life, friendships, finances, health and nature. She’s grounded, organized, pragmatic, creative, sagacious, and very content with her life. She’s a good manager, a considerate mother, a true friend, and a trusted counselor.

The Queen of Swords is the sovereign of air and governs the intellectual aspect of life. She’s concerned with learning, ideas, prudence, ethics, speaking and communication with family, friends and close associates. She’s very pensive, diligent, attentive, and self-assured. She’s a quite an instructor, a great spokeswoman, a voracious reader and an influential member of her community.

The Queen of Cups is the sovereign of water and governs the emotional aspect of life. She’s concerned with love and happiness, insight, personal relationships, and desires. She’s very loving, happy, compassionate, and loyal. She can be very nurturing, quite witty, and builds long-lasting relationships.

The Queen of Wands is the sovereign of fire and governs the energetic aspect of life. She’s concerned with focusing the will, business, opportunities for growth, personal progress, and resolving discord. She’s passionate, determined, willful, enthusiastic, and self-motivated. She loves to travel, enjoys managing and building businesses, is a persuasive leader, and can be quite inspirational.

The queens commonly represent people you know or are very likely to meet. The type of “queen” you meet will help you in some way with the aspect she represents. For example, you may meet a “Queen of Pentacles” type of person when you need support or guidance on family issues.

Queens can also represent the type of qualities you need to emphasize in your own persona at a given point in time. For example, you may need to emulate the Queen of Wands to gain the self-motivation you need to start a new project or business.

The Empress and the Queens

Now that I’ve established the aspects of the Empress and four queens, here’s my philosophy on how I believe they relate to each other.

The Queens and their Kingdoms

Remember that a queen reigns over an organized community, such as a territory, country or state; I’ll use “kingdom” for the remainder of this discussion. The four queens in the minor arcana reign over four distinct kingdoms – the Material Kingdom, the Intellectual Kingdom, the Emotional Kingdom, and the Energetic Kingdom. These kingdoms are wholly separate and each includes its own royal court and citizens.

The Empress and her Empire

Recall that an empress rules an empire consisting of an extensive group of countries or states. The Empress is part of the major arcana, so she is particularly significant as the sovereign of a vast empire known as the temporal realm. It’s important to note that the temporal realm encompasses all that exits on this plane of existence (as opposed to what is encompassed within the spiritual realm).

The Royal Relationships

Here is how I believe the relationships between these five individuals work:

• The four queens have equal status, power and authority.
• The Empress’ Empire encompasses all of the Four Kingdoms.
• Given the nature of their realms, the queens ultimately pledge their allegiance to the Empress.
• The Empress herself encompasses the personas and qualities of all four queens, and they are fully integrated into her being.

The Empress and the Queens in a reading

Here’s where everything now comes into play and how this particular perspective of the royal females can add more meaning to a reading.

Whenever you see the Empress and one or more queens in a reading, there are typically two possible interpretations you can derive from their appearance. Remember that context is very important. Let’s assume that the Empress, the Queen of Cups and the Queen of Pentacles appear in a reading.

1. Suppose that the Empress seems to be a major part of the reading’s focus, and the guidance seems to indicate that the querent needs to be more like the Empress in order to overcome or help resolve the issue at hand. Given my statement that the Empress encompasses the personas and qualities of the queens, the Queen of Cups and the Queen of Pentacles could likely indicate that the querent needs to emphasize or intensify the qualities of those two queens.
2. Now suppose that the queens seem to be a major part of the reading’s focus, and the guidance seems to indicate that the querent needs to emulate the qualities of those queens in order to overcome or help resolve the issue at hand. The Empress’ appearance could likely indicate that the querent needs to apply the qualities of the queens in broader context, beyond that of the current situation.  There is likely a “bigger picture” that the Empress sees that the queens cannot.

You’re likely to come up with more types of interpretations as you experiment with this perspective – these are just the two that consistently come up in my readings.

Side Note: I’m Partial to the Queens

As I was developing my thoughts on the kings and the queens, I found that I grew to like the queens more than the kings for one simple reason: I believe they’re more well-rounded than the kings.

Let me make clear that I am taking nothing away from the stature and importance of the Kings. I just think, though, that being the epitome of the masculine qualities of their suits also means they represent the extreme qualities of their suits. I know this sounds like a typical gender stereotype, but bear with me here – I have an example.

Let’s take the King of Swords and the Queen of Swords and let’s assume they each have an important decision to make about a given issue. Here’s how I think they will approach their decisions.

• The King of Swords will approach his decision with precision analysis and logic. He’s interested only in the facts. He’ll analyze the issue before him, perform a risk assessment of the situation, identify all possible resolution options, determine the benefits of taking action and the possible detriments of doing nothing, and determine (to the best of his ability) the consequences of the decision he thinks would be most logical and reasonable.  Once he’s made up his mind, he’ll execute his decision and consider the issue closed for the moment.
• The Queen of Swords will approach her decision with scrutiny, logic and reason. She’ll carefully examine the issue at hand, identify any negative aspects of the situation, determine what she can do to counter or nullify them, determine how she can affect the situation in the most positive manner, ascertain what options she has for a reasonable resolution, and then decide what she is going to do. Before she makes her final decision, however, she will do one thing that the King would never do: she’ll take a page from her sister The Queen of Cups and ask herself how she feels about her final decision.  If she feels good about it, she’ll execute her decision with a clear mind; otherwise, she’ll run through her thought process again to determine if there is something she might have missed in her analysis.

I believe all of the queens have this more open way of thinking and behaving than the kings. I think they’re less strict and dogmatic about their suit characteristics than the kings, which, in my mind, can make them more valuable in a variety of situations.

Parting Thoughts

I hope you’ve enjoyed the perspective on the royalty cards that I’ve presented in this two-part article. This is just one of the many facets of these cards that make them so interesting and fascinating, and you can certainly learn more about them in many of the great tarot books out on the market. I’ll have a section on them in a book I’m currently writing that will, hopefully, be out by the end of the year.

I hope you now see these cards from a new and fresh perspective and can use what you’ve learned to discover new ways to use them during your readings.

This article first appeared in the Autumn 2011 issue of Tarosophist International Magazine.

All card images in this article are from the Radiant-Waite-Tarot deck, Copyright © U.S. Games Systems.

Footnotes

1. Page 443, The Concise Oxford Dictionary 9^th Edition, Copyright © Oxford University Press 1995

2. Page 1122, The Concise Oxford Dictionary 9^th Edition, Copyright © Oxford University Press 1995

3. Page 442, The Concise Oxford Dictionary 9^th Edition, Copyright © Oxford University Press 1995

4. Page 747, The Concise Oxford Dictionary 9^th Edition, Copyright © Oxford University Press 1995

All this is happening at my condominium complex and it’s driving me crazy!

Let me say now that I’m writing this blog post for three specific reasons:

1. It’s cathartic.
2. It a great way to vent off some steam
3. Most importantly, it’s my way of letting you know why it seems like I’ve dropped off the planet a bit and why you haven’t been seeing me or hearing from me much lately .

The Refurbishing Project

So, what’s going on here? Well, our condominium complex is going through a major refurbishing project. And I do mean major. All of the buildings in our complex are getting new roofs, new siding, new windows, new decks, new structures to bring our buildings up to local earthquake resistance standards, a new paint job,  and (some) new lighting. It’s a project that took our condo’s Board of Directors two years to plan and will take an estimated 9 months to compete. (10 months if you include associated delays that have popped up.) The work started mid-May of this year and will end (hopefully) by the end of February 2012. Assuming the weather holds out during crucial phases of the work.

I know what you’re thinking. “Why on earth do you need such a project? Especially with the way the economy is at the moment – this must be costing you a fortune!” You’re right: it is costing us a fortune.

As for why we need this: Well, we simply have no other choice but to have this work done. Over the past twenty-odd years, the condo community has patch-worked, duct-taped, and bubble-gummed a wide variety of problems and issues, and chosen to pursue the least expensive options to handle some of the more serious issues. It was bound to catch up with us sooner or later, and it certainly did!  The complex was at the point where things were simply and literally going to fall apart if we did not take care of them properly and thoroughly once and for all.

The upshot is that our property values will definitely increase once the work is completed. That’s actually great news at a time when most home prices have or are continuing to drop.

A Brief Tour of “The Project”

I’ll show you a few photos that will illustrate just what’s been going on around here since May. First, I’ll provide you with a point of reference by showing you a photo (last winter) of one of our buildings and how it looked before this started.

As you can see in this “Before” photo, the paint if fading in some areas, there are patches in the siding, the windows are inconsistent, and it just looks old in general. The scary part is what you can’t see behind the siding or up on the roofs.

Note: I’m conveying a short, compressed version of what’s been going on around here, so you must understand that all of this has transpired over the past five months. The project started in mid-May and it is late-October as I write this. The current date of completion is approximately mid-February of 2012. (There’s still a lot of interior work to do.)

The first order of business was to work on the roofs, which were sorely in need of proper repair and reconditioning. Aside from repairing the damage, the crew added a new parapet, which is supposed to help the roof ventilate more efficiently. All of the buildings were slated to get new roofs, so you can imagine the work going on above us – it unfortunately started at 8:00 in the morning and lasted until 5:00 in the evening. There were times when I thought the crew just might fall down into someone’s living room.

Next, there were crews that had to remove all of the siding and get to the very structural frame of the building. There was a lot of dry rot and weak boards to remove and replace, and the guys also had to replace a lot of badly damaged insulation.  We knew that quite a bit of the framework would require replacement, but we discovered that the damage was more extensive than we anticipated.

The crews would cover both the outside structures and interior window areas with plastic as they worked through the buildings so that they could manage falling debris and keep their work dry. We had this plastic cover for at least four months.

Once the repairs, refurbishing and upgrades were completed on the structure, the crews began to attach plywood, DensGlass shaftwall material, and an orange vapor barrier sheeting to all of the outer walls and surfaces. It was very weird to see brown, yellow and orange buildings as I headed to the exit of the parking lot.

There were some unexpected issues with the decks and it took the architects a good two weeks to figure out how to overcome them. Apparently, some work our Condo Association had done a couple of years ago was not as good, sound or thorough as we were led to believe. Oh well, live and learn…

The crews then worked on installing windows, patio doors, and siding. The cool thing about getting new windows is that we’ll finally have proper flashing, insulation and caulking! We and other owners have complained about this for years and we’re so happy that it was included in this project.

Now the paint crews have arrived and are starting to paint the buildings. We have a funky gray-scheme going on here – a darkish gray on the upper level, followed by a lighter gray in the middle level, finished with an even lighter gray on the bottom level. There will be white trim along the parapet, windows and garage doors. It looks pretty darn weird just now, but I think (and hope) it will look great once it’s all done.

You’re probably thinking, “Cool! It looks like his life will get back to normal in a few weeks.” Nope. Not yet. We still have interior window trim and drywall work that needs to be done. Our unit will need quite a bit of work because they had to shorten the size of our clearstory windows and the skylight in the bathroom, thus adding new framework to both areas. Yes, despite how things seem just now, we have about another three months of chaos ahead. “Why three months!?”, you say. Well, it’s due to the fact that the work is done in spurts, that is, when they can get the right crews together to tackle a big chunk of work at one time. Not my ideal situation, but it is what it is.

I’ll post an update again in a couple of months once we’re into the interior work phase.

Parting Thoughts

I hope this gives you an idea of what I’ve been doing and dealing with these past few months. I also hope it helps you understand why you haven’t heard from me or seen me very much lately, and why it’s taken me some time (more than I would like, I assure you) to get back to you on emails, replies (on discussion threads) or projects.

Continuing to deal with the final phases of this project will be my status quo until at least the end of January 2012, so I hope you’ll bear with me until then. I certainly appreciate your patience and understanding while I continue to meet commitments, appointments and deadlines as best as I can.

I haven’t abandoned anything or anybody, I’m just dealing with Chaos and the Condo…

“It’s good to be King!” I’m sure you’ve heard this phrase before. Is it really, though? Wouldn’t it be better to be an Emperor? I normally think of kings ruling vast kingdoms, such as the kings in The Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia. But an Emperor can rule over a whole galaxy, like the one in Star Wars.

This came to mind again recently because I was explaining my philosophy about the relationship between the Emperor and the Kings and the Empress and the Queens to some of my esteemed colleagues at the Tarot School’s 2011 Readers Studio. I’ve found that my perspective on these relationships adds some breadth and an extra bit of depth to my readings whenever, say, the Emperor and one or more of the kings appear in the reading.

In this article, I’ll explain how I see the relationship between the Emperor and the four kings of the minor arcana. I believe the Emperor encompasses the four kings. (I’ll explain how I see the relationship between the Empress and the four queens in Part 2.)

Who really ranks higher: an Emperor or a King?

This is a grand question. I thought about this some time ago because it struck me that there are four kings in the Tarot, but only one emperor. I knew and understood the commonly held reasons why this is the case, but it just struck me as odd nonetheless. This one question prompted me to think about the relationship between these cards (as people), the result of which is the perspective I’ll share with you shortly.

You can answer this question by understanding the difference between an emperor and a king. Here are the definitions from my trusty Oxford English Dictionary.

Emperor The sovereign of an empire. ⁽¹⁾

King A male sovereign, especially the hereditary ruler of an independent state. ⁽²⁾

The emperor seems to be of higher rank than a king, especially given the fact that the emperor rules an empire. Couldn’t an independent state be considered an empire, though? Ok, back to the dictionary for clarification.

Empire An extensive group of states or countries under a single supreme authority. ⁽³⁾

Kingdom An organized community headed by a king; the territory subject to a king. ⁽⁴⁾

An empire is much greater than a kingdom, so the emperor is definitely of higher rank than a king. While we’re on the subject of empires and kingdoms, consider this: Based on these descriptions, you could say that an empire consists of a set of kingdoms. Keep this in mind, as it will be an important point soon. Now let’s look at the Emperor and kings a little more closely.

NOTE:    I want to set a little context here before we go any further. I believe, as most of you likely do, that we have both a male and female aspects to our persona. Some of us have a stronger male side, others have a stronger female side, and still others are relatively balanced. This is an important concept because I believe the traits and aspects of the Emperor/Kings and the Empress/Queens apply to everyone, regardless of gender.

                    I focus mainly on the positive qualities of these individuals in my discussion. My specific intent is to show you how I perceive the relationships between the Emperor and the kings, so I need to describe each of them just enough to provide some context for those relationships. You can find more thorough explanations of these cards in the many good Tarot books out on the market.

The Emperor – Supreme Male Ruler of the Temporal Realm

The Emperor is commonly considered to be the archetypical patriarch and male ruler of the temporal realm (the Hierophant being his counterpart for the spiritual realm). He is the epitome of the male aspect. He is strong, confident, willful, focused, compassionate, empathetic, just, tenacious, methodical, well-spoken, analytical, gregarious, and powerful. The Emperor can be very generous or very selfish, open-minded or dogmatic, warm-hearted or cold as ice, a great ally or a feared enemy.

He is someone you may meet in your life’s journey, which may bode good or ill depending on when, where and how you meet him. You’ll know him when you meet him, though. On a more personal level, he could represent a type of person you should aspire to be. There will come times in your life when you might need to embrace particular qualities of the Emperor so that you can more effectively work through an issue or deal with a given situation that’s going on in your life.

The Kings – Male Monarchs of the Four Suits

The four kings in the Tarot represent each of the four suits in the minor arcana, and each king is the epitome of the masculine qualities of the suit he represents.

The King of Pentacles is the male sovereign of earth and governs the physical aspect of life. He’s concerned with daily life, work, finances, family, and material wealth. He’s grounded, methodical, pragmatic, successful, wise, and very content with his life. He’s a good businessman, a great family man, a true friend, and a trusted advisor.

The King of Swords is the male sovereign of air and governs the intellectual aspect of life. He’s concerned with reason, logic, analytical thinking, beliefs, speaking and communication of all kinds. He’s very thoughtful, conscientious, focused, and confident. He’s a quite a philosopher, a great speaker, a voracious reader and a decisive man of action.

The King of Cups is the male sovereign of water and governs the emotional aspect of life. He’s concerned with emotions, intuition, relationships, and aspirations. He’s very loving, happy, sympathetic, and giving. He can be very supportive, has a great sense of humor, and builds long-lasting relationships.

The King of Wands is the male sovereign of fire and governs the energetic aspect of life. He’s concerned with focusing energies, commerce, risks and opportunities, movement, and conflict management. He’s passionate, focused, willful, energetic, and dynamic. He loves to travel, enjoys starting new businesses, is a great leader, and can often be quite spiritual.

The kings commonly represent people you know or are very likely to meet. The type of “king” you meet will help you in some way with the aspect he represents. For example, you may meet a “King of Cups” type of person when you need emotional support or guidance.

Kings can also represent the type of qualities you need to emphasize in your own persona at a given point in time. For example, you may need to emulate the King of Swords to get you through a period of indecision and stress.

The Emperor and the Kings

Now that I’ve established the aspects of the Emperor and four kings, here’s my philosophy on how I believe they relate to each other.

The Kings and their Kingdoms

Remember that a king reigns over an organized community, such as a territory, country or state; I’ll use “kingdom” for the remainder of this discussion. The four kings in the minor arcana reign over four distinct kingdoms – the Material Kingdom, the Intellectual Kingdom, the Emotional Kingdom, and the Energetic Kingdom. These kingdoms are wholly separate and each includes its own royal court and citizens.

The Emperor and his Empire

Recall that an emperor rules an empire consisting of an extensive group of countries or states. The Emperor is part of the major arcana, so he is particularly significant as the sovereign of a vast empire known as the temporal realm. It’s important to note that the temporal realm encompasses all that exits on this plane of existence (as opposed to what is encompassed within the spiritual realm).

The Royal Relationships

Here is how I believe the relationships between these five individuals work:

• The four kings have equal status, power and authority.
• The Emperor’s Empire encompasses all of the Four Kingdoms.
• Given the nature of their realms, the kings ultimately pledge their allegiance to the Emperor.
• The Emperor himself encompasses the personas and qualities of all four kings, and they are fully integrated into his being.

The Emperor and the Kings in a reading

Here’s where everything now comes into play and how this particular perspective of the royal males can add more meaning to a reading.

Whenever you see the Emperor and one or more kings in a reading, there are typically two possible interpretations you can derive from their appearance. (Remember that context is very important.) Let’s assume that the Emperor, the King of Swords and the King of Wands appear in a reading.

1. Suppose that the Emperor seems to be a major part of the reading’s focus, and the guidance seems to indicate that the querent needs to be more like the Emperor in order to overcome or help resolve the issue at hand. Given my statement that the Emperor encompasses the personas and qualities of the kings, the King of Swords and the King of Wands could likely indicate that the querent needs to emphasize or intensify the qualities of those two kings.
2. Now suppose that the kings seem to be a major part of the reading’s focus, and the guidance seems to indicate that the querent needs to emulate the qualities of those kings in order to overcome or help resolve the issue at hand. The Emperor’s appearance could likely indicate that the querent needs to apply the qualities of the kings in broader context, beyond that of the current situation.  There is likely a “bigger picture” that the Emperor sees that the kings cannot.

You’re likely to come up with more types of interpretations as you experiment with this perspective – these are just the two that consistently come up in my readings.

 Parting Thoughts

The royal cards seem to be a continual source of consternation and endless fascination for readers of all styles and levels of experience. There is so much to learn about them and, indeed, you can find a lot of information in many of the great tarot books out on the market. I’ll have a section on them in a book I’m currently writing that will, hopefully, be out by the end of the year.

I hope this article helped you to see these cards from a new and fresh perspective, and enabled you to discover new ways to use them during your readings. Stay tuned for Part 2, as I’ll cover the relationships between the Empress and the Queens.

This article first appeared in the Summer 2011 issue of Tarosophist International Magazine.

All card images in this article are from the Radiant-Waite-Tarot deck, Copyright © U.S. Games Systems.

Footnotes

1. Page 442, The Concise Oxford Dictionary 9^th Edition, Copyright © Oxford University Press 1995

2. Page 747, The Concise Oxford Dictionary 9^th Edition, Copyright © Oxford University Press 1995

3. Page 442, The Concise Oxford Dictionary 9^th Edition, Copyright © Oxford University Press 1995

4. Page 747, The Concise Oxford Dictionary 9^th Edition, Copyright © Oxford University Press 1995

It’s also incredible how the Tarot shows the characteristics, experiences, and paths that we all share as human beings. The Major Arcana has for some time now been associated with the archetypes that all humans share through the collective unconsciousness. I also believe, though, that the four suits of the Tarot portray the day-to-day life experiences that everyone encounters at some time or another during their lives.

I’ve discovered yet another aspect about ourselves that the Tarot reflects – the three basic phases of our existence.

It Started With A Riddle…

I recently encountered a well-known riddle in an article I was reading, and it immediately made me think of the Tarot. It occurred to me that the Tarot rather clearly illustrates the riddle itself, and embodies the riddle’s answer overall.

Here’s the riddle:

I walk on four legs in the morning, on two legs in the evening, and on three legs at night. What am I?

The answer: A human.

• Walking on four legs represents man in his infancy – he uses his arms and legs to crawl around and get from one place to another.
• Walking on two legs represents man in his middle years – he walks straight and with confidence, taking on life’s challenges and achieving his goals.
• Walking on three legs represents man in his old age – he now uses a cane to walk because his body is tired and spent from years of doing weary, physically demanding work.

I quickly realized that the Tarot reflects the riddle’s answer through combinations of cards from both the major and minor arcana. The challenge before me now was to figure out just which cards I would use to depict the answer.

The Three Phases of Human Existence

The riddle infers three basic phases of existence: Infancy, Adulthood, and Old Age. As I thought about how the Tarot reflects these phases, I realized that it would be a good idea to change “Infancy” to “Childhood” as there are only two or three cards with infants in them. I also remembered just how well the Tarot tells the truth – it shows both potential sides of human existence, that is, the light and the dark.

NOTE: Although I show particular cards for each phase, I don’t necessarily refer to any of them specifically. I basically just tell the story I think they convey. That story will always appear below the image of the cards.

Phase 1 – Childhood

The Tarot does portray childhood, although in a very general way. I found it slightly odd at first, but then I realized that childhood represents our initial formative years – we are just beginning to evolve and learn about life. As such, these are the cards I thought best reflected this phase.

* All card images in this article are from the original Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot deck, Copyright © U.S. Games Systems.

We come to our journey in this plane of existence with all the naivety and innocence of the Fool. How can we do otherwise? We begin enveloped within the safe, loving and warm environment of our mothers’ wombs, and it is they who will finally introduce us into this world. We initially enter the world blissfully and we’re happy to be in our new homes. Here’s where we first encounter the ways and realities of the Universe, however, as some are born into harsh environments with adverse situations and difficult relationships while others are born into pleasant environments with nurturing situations and loving relationships. In either case, we begin to recognize in our teens that there are cycles in life, that there are many more lessons to learn as we grow older, and that life is just really beginning at this point. (The figures in the four corners of the Wheel of Fortune card are all studying books, which underscores the whole notion of continual learning.)

Phase 2 – Adulthood

This seems to be the phase in which the Tarot really does a good job of revealing what we go through during this time in our lives, which, in my opinion, transpires between our mid-twenties to early-fifties. It clearly illustrates the energetic, materialistic, intellectual and emotional aspects of our lives, and reminds us that life is a continuing set of exercises on balance and moderation. What is really clear is that this happens to all of us regardless of our age, gender, societal position, philosophy or belief system. Here are 20 cards that I believe depict the four aspects of this phase of our lives.

The Energetic Side of Life

Entering our adulthood can be a scary or exciting time of our lives, depending upon how our experiences have gone thus far. The central issue seems to be growth, and we immediately begin to ask questions such as “What do I do now?”, “Where do I go from here?” We also seem to be concerned with where and how we will now focus our energies. The Universe is good about providing us with opportunities for growth and learning, if we will only see them. As we enter adulthood, we literally have the world in our hands and it is up to us to decide how we will move forward; we eventually learn to be mindful for opportunities that may appear at any time so that we may continually evolve and gain more experience. We eventually learn that to live life is to take risks, albeit in a hopefully considered manner. There will be times when the risks we take will be challenging, stressful and will fail, but there are also times when the risks we take will be trouble-free and successful. And, as we get older, we’ll learn how to follow our passions with greater enthusiasm and focus our energies more effectively.

The Materialistic Side of Life

We all enter adulthood wondering how we’re going to make our way in life. How are we going to grow and sustain ourselves both physically and fiscally? How, where and when will we start a family? How will we ensure our future security in old age? The Tarot reveals that the Universe will present us with opportunities to make our way through the material realm of our lives, and our level of success is in direct proportion to our ability to see those opportunities and act on them. Of course, we’ll soon learn that we’ll constantly have to weigh the pros and cons of each situation carefully so that we can maintain a balance between our health and our wealth. Sometimes we will choose unwisely and find ourselves in difficult situations where we may even need to seek the help of others, and other times we’ll make decisions that lead us to more prosperous situations where we can even lend a hand to those in need. As we mature, we eventually learn to work methodically, channel our experiences to our advantage, and move forward patiently.

The Intellectual Side of Life

How naïve we are as we emerge from our teens. We think we know it all, but then discover that the unabashed truth is that we do not. We enter adulthood with the realization that there is so much more to learn, that what we thought was important truly is not, and that we need to learn how to communicate more clearly and effectively. In short, we need a fresh perspective on life. The Tarot shows us that the Universe will provide us with that new perspective, and will help us adjust it as we work our way through adulthood. We’ll learn that we must maintain a calm mind to make sound decisions. There will be times when we need to make decisions based on pure facts, regardless of what we see around us, and other times when we must broaden our view and see things in context. There will be times when situations put our minds under great stress, even to the point of affecting our emotional state, but there will be other times when our minds our clear and focused and we can conquer whatever fears and doubts we may have. Our experiences and maturity eventually bring us to a point where we can assess situations and think more quickly, thus building our self-confidence and giving us a more clear perspective of our self-image.

The Emotional Side of Life

Moving from our childhood to adulthood from an emotional aspect is probably one of the hardest things we have to do. Most of us emerge from an environment where we feel we’re the center of our universe and have the notion that “it’s all about me” to one where we begin to realize that each of us is just a single, tiny planet in a large sector of the universe and that it’s actually about more than just me. It’s also during this transition that we realize just how much our egos can become a nuisance. The Tarot, however, shows us that the Universe will provide us with opportunities to develop and refine our emotions as we mature. We’ll definitely learn about relationships and, hopefully, find someone with whom we can share our lives. We will know sadness and sometimes great sorrow, but we will also know happiness and sometimes great joy. We will learn much about emotions as we go through adulthood, and those lessons will enable us to weather the emotional storms we encounter with a greater sense of calm and patience.

Phase 3 – Old Age

We have experienced much by the time we reach this age of our lives. We’ve gotten a handle on our passions and learned how to focus our energies on those things that are important to us, been through the challenges and successes of everyday life, learned how to reason and think more clearly, and managed to control our egos and find joy in the smallest of things.

Although we’ve been through many cycles during our lives up until now, the Tarot shows us that, even at this stage, we still have yet more to learn. We’ve reached the stage where our lives are abundant with the experiences that come with engaging life as fully as we can, and we’ve become comfortably grounded and centered by those experiences. We’ve also gained the confidence that comes through learning from our failures and being humble about our successes. We are willful, yet compassionate; disciplined, yet flexible; and we have (hopefully) managed to bring some amount of balance to the female and male aspects of our character. Now we are at a crossroads in our lives. On the one hand we are reflective, looking back on our lives, reviewing what we’ve done and contemplating the lessons we’ve learned. On the other hand, we’re now more concerned with our place in the Universe and the universal scheme of things. Who are we now? Where do our passions lie and what is our true place in the world? What do we think and what, finally, is our philosophy of life? How do we feel and how do we really define our spirituality?

Finding Balance in Our Lives

The Universe seems to be based on the idea of opposites and balance. (Although I could devote an entire article on this statement alone, let’s consent to this premise for the sake of this conversation.) We see many opposites in the universe – up, down; white, black; good, bad; in, out; night, day; past, future; right, wrong; light, dark; the list could go on and on. Balance seems to be a state to which we should aspire in order to live a good life. Too much food or too little food will make you ill; too much light or too little light will make it difficult for you to see things around you; too much exercise or too little exercise can have an adverse effect on your body; this list can go on and on, too. The Tarot clearly depicts how the notions of opposites and balance affect our lives, both on a mundane, day-to-day level and on a higher, more spiritual level.

We spend most of our lives expending our energies to work hard in order to build a comfortable, relaxing life for ourselves. Having too much to do can severely deplete our energy and spending too much time doing nothing can make us quite lethargic. The Tarot reminds us to strike a balance between our work and personal time so that we may lead a more fulfilling and reasonably active life.

Life provides us with a constant set of exercises involving managing our minds and our hearts. We can often get overly stressed in certain situations (which in many instances is self-imposed) and we can allow ourselves to be overly optimistic in others (the result of attempting to deny or suppress doubt and fear). Again, the Tarot reminds us to strike a balance, in this case between our minds and our hearts. When our minds are calm we can feel tranquil and at peace, and when our hearts are relaxed we are more confident and at ease.

By the time we reach old age, we’ve lived long enough to see both sides of the human condition – the dark side manifested as evil and the bright side manifested as love. We’ve also experienced the darkness and brightness in ourselves as we’ve worked through the various cycles of our lives. The Tarot reminds us that these two sides do, indeed, exist in everyone and that one of our greatest lessons on this plane of existence is to learn how to bring them into balance.

We’ve also experienced times of sacrifice (sometimes great, sometimes small) when it seemed that the Universe itself was against us and there was no end to our dilemma in sight. But the Tarot shows us clearly that sacrifices can lead to enlightenment and further self-awareness, and that, above all, there is always hope. The important lesson here is that we must constantly work on replenishing our hope by keeping ourselves in balance and placing our trust and faith in the Universe and the Creator.

Coming to an End to Start Yet Again

As I said earlier, the Tarot is very good about telling the truth. It’s also very good at telling complete stories, and the story we’ve seen thus far is no different.

This is the simplest message of all and provides a fitting end to our story. The Tarot clearly shows us that Old Age must come to an end at some point in time, and we must make the great transition to the next plane of existence. We will be called at the appropriate time (such is the way of the Universe) and we will exit from our life as we’ve known it. We’ve learned all that we needed to learn, experienced all that we needed to experience, and have become whole unto ourselves. Finally, and most importantly, we’re ready to begin a new journey.

Parting Thoughts

It’s funny how a simple riddle evoked such an introspective reaction in me, motivating me to discover how the Tarot reveals and depicts these phases of human existence. I’m constantly amazed at the depths of wisdom and knowledge I can glean from the Tarot, which some see as merely a stack of 78 cardboard cards with artwork on them. They are far more than that to me. They are a tool for divination, a device for self-discovery, and an instrument for gaining spiritual wisdom and guidance.

I hope this helped you to see the Tarot from a new or fresh perspective, enabled you to discover more about your own life and life’s path, and inspired you to work with the Tarot on a more personal level.

This article first appeared in the Spring 2011 issue of the Tarosophist International Magazine.

I’m often asked, “What does it take to learn how to read the Tarot? Do you need to study for a few years? Do you need to rely on your intuition? Do you need to be psychic?”

Although I don’t think you need to be psychic (it couldn’t hurt, though), I do believe that a good balance of acquired knowledge and personal intuition will put you on the path of being a good reader.

Knowledge & Intuition

Before we go any further, let’s make sure we’re working with the same vocabulary.

• Acquired knowledge. This is under the domain of the left side of your brain and refers to the descriptions of the Tarot cards that you’ve learned from books, classes, workshops, mentors and fellow readers. This will govern how you analyze and how you think about the cards – it’s how your left-brain processes what you see.
• Personal intuition. This is under the domain of the right side of your brain and refers to meanings you see in the cards that have absolutely nothing to do with your acquired knowledge. This will govern what you sense and how you feel about the cards – it’s how your right-brain processes what you see.

I wholeheartedly recommend that you continue studying the Tarot – give the left-side of your brain a good workout. Learn as much as you can about the Tarot’s history, its rich symbolism, and its connection or relationship to other esoteric disciplines and divination systems. Explore the various and wondrous ways you can use it as a valuable tool for divination, self-growth and a means of understanding life and the Universe.

I also highly recommend that you explore and develop your intuition. It will come from your very core and enable you to tap into the wonders and gifts of the Universe. It will help you provide a deeper and more sensitive aspect to your readings, and you’ll be amazed at how much it can help you in other areas of your life.

Bringing Out Your Intuitive Self

Going about acquiring a good, base knowledge of the cards is a relatively easy task, but developing your intuition is a different thing altogether. Here are a few exercises that will help you get in touch and in tune with your intuition.

NOTE: Besides helping you with your intuition, the following exercises may provide you with one of two extra benefits: You’ll likely develop an interest in studying other disciplines and concepts such as astrology, numerology, colors, symbols and glyphs, and the Kabbalah, and how they all come into play within the Tarot If you’ve already started down this path, you’ll likely see these things from a fresh and more interesting perspective.

Grab your favorite deck and retrieve your favorite card. If you don’t have a favorite card, go through each card in the deck and select one that seems to grab your attention. Lay the card on the table and make sure it is directly in front of you. Now go through the following steps carefully – take your time, there’s no need to rush. (By the way, you might want to have a magnifying glass on hand.) As you go through each step, note how each item makes you feel.

1. Look at colors in the card.
   1. Are they predominately light or dark?
   2. How do the colors make you feel? What emotions do they elicit? Happiness? Sadness? Anger? Detachment? Thoughtfulness? Silliness?
   3. What would you say is the main color theme? How does that affect the overall way you feel about the card?

2. Look at the various symbols in the card.
   1. Are there any geometric shapes? If so, how do they strike you and what do you think they mean? How do they play into the overall feeling of the card?
   2. Are there any cultural symbols in the card? (Crosses, pyramids, staffs, coat of arms, types of jewelry or clothing items, etc.) How do they initially weave into the message that comes across to you for the card?

3. Look at figures in the card.
   1. Are they male or female or both?
   2. Are they young, middle aged or old?
   3. Are they alone, with someone else, or with a group of people?
   4. What are they doing? Sitting? Standing? Running? Fighting? Resting? Riding in or on something?
   5. How are they dressed?
   6. Are they holding anything? If so, what are they doing with it?
   7. What do you suppose they’re thinking?
   8. Who do you suppose they’re feeling?
      
      
4. Look at surroundings
   1. Are they indoors or outdoors?
   2. Are they near water? Mountains? Plains? Valleys? Hills?
   3. Are they in a house? A castle? A church? A palace?
   4. If they’re in a room, how is constructed? Are there windows? Doors? Columns? Curtains? Pillars? Seats? Thrones?
      
      
5. Look at the action in the card.
   1. Are people moving around? If so, how?
   2. Are people interacting with each other? In what ways?
   3. Are there animals in the card? If so, what are they doing?
      
      
6. 6) Look at the numbers.
   1. What numbers seem more powerful to you? Why?
   2. What numbers seem weaker to you? Why?
   3. How (if at all) does a number change your perspective of what you see in the card?

The key to working with the steps above is to note how you sense each of them the initial moment you see the card. Intuition is about doing all of the above without thinking about it. It involves what you initially sense about the card. You may sense all, some or few of these items. How much or how little you sense doesn’t matter. What matters is exactly what you do sense. What does your gut tell you? What does the little bird sitting on your shoulder tell you? What does the tiny voice in your head tell you? If you happen to find that you have two conflicting thoughts about a particular aspect of the card, it’s very likely that your first thought was the right one – it was your intuition speaking to you.

Take two cards and use the previous techniques on both, but now ask yourself how they relate in context to each other. What story do the cards weave? How did you see them both initially, the moment you turned them around? What connections did you immediately notice? What similarities did you see? What opposing factors did you notice? How do the major colors play into the message you see?

Once you get comfortable with using your intuition on two cards, working with more cards is quite easy. Just remember to apply the same principles to each card.

Parting Thoughts

Now you’re on your way to doing readings that combine your intuition and your intellectual knowledge of the cards. Just think of what the cards will reveal to you now and the amazing messages you’ll be able to see as you hone and polish these skills.

I’ll bet you have one or two decks that you use most often, and another three or four that you rotate on occasion, as the mood strikes you. Assuming you have others sitting around the house gathering dust, I believe I have some good reasons for you to think about taking those decks out of their boxes or bags and start working with them for your readings.

So Many Decks, So Little Time

I find it absolutely fascinating that there are so many different types of Tarot decks in the market today. You can find decks based on various themes, cultures, fantasies, esoteric disciplines and spirituality. Here’s a brief look at what you can find on web sites such as Aeclecitc.net and TarotGarden.com.

Style
Animals, Art, Beginners, Business, Crystals, Erotic, Fantasy, Flowers, Food, Gay & Lesbian, Herbs & Plants, Historical, Humorous, Love, Marseilles, Multicultural, Novelty, Occult, Rider-Waite Clones, Scientific, Sports, Thoth Clones, Visconti, Women

Cultural
Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Greek, Asian, Australian, Celtic, Gothic, Eastern European, Mayan, Medieval, Modern, Native American, Norse, Renaissance, Russian, South American

Fantasy
Aliens, Arthurian, Dragons, Dreams, Fairies, Fairy Tales, The Grail, Vampires,

Esoteric Disciplines
Astrology, I Ching, Runes, Sacred Geometry,

Spiritual
Angels, Christian, Goddess, Golden Dawn, Pagan & Wiccan, Qabalah,

The enormous variety of decks provides you with the opportunity to find something that really connects with you and that really speaks to your soul. You’ll likely find that there are several decks that make that type of connection with you – and that’s a good thing! These decks will give you the means to explore and expand your psychic and intuitive gifts, and enable you to see things that you might not have seen before or even thought conceivable.

I believe there are three basic reasons why you should consider using a variety of decks for your readings.

First: To go beyond your comfort zone.

How many of you have a couch or reclining chair made by a particular manufacturer that you’ve owned for a long time? What about a particular brand of golf clubs or frying pans? Would you ever consider updating what you have or completely switching to another brand? Probably not. And, why not? Because you’re comfortable with what you have. You already know how to get the recliner just to the right level of comfort, and you know just where the lumps are located in the couch; you’ve gotten accustomed to the feel of those clubs and your handicap is pretty decent; you have a feel for the pans and know what types of food you can cook in each one.

Tarot decks are just the same. You have two or three decks that you owned for a long time. They’ve been shuffled thousands of times (and it shows) and they physically feel good. You have a great connection with them, you understand the symbolism, and you’re so comfortable with the core card meanings that you’ve stopped relying on your memory to bring them forth during a reading. It’s all good. So, what’s the problem?

There is no problem, really. You could blissfully continue to do your readings as you’ve done for some time. There is a point, however, when you’re likely to hit a plateau – a period when you find it difficult to read the cards. The cards may not make sense sometimes, or the reading makes you scratch your head and wonder what it is you feel you’re missing, or you feel you just don’t seem to have the connection to the cards that you had in the past. What’s going on, then? Nothing overtly troublesome –you’ve just hit the maximum level of your comfort zone.

Don’t worry, this happens at some point to everyone who does what we do, and it also happens to people in the creative arts. I’ve been a practicing guitarist since I was 15 and I can tell you it’s happened to me a few times. How do you get back into your comfort zone? By going out of it and doing something to extend it. Using different decks for your readings is a great way for you to do this.

Second: To broaden your perspectives.

Working with other decks will undoubtedly increase your Tarot Vocabulary – the words and phrases that you have available to you in your mind for a given card – and enable you to interpret the cards with much greater depth. You’ll soon discover a lot of new meanings for cards you thought you knew so well. You’ll take into consideration how a card makes you feel, what it makes you think about, how it strikes you visually, and what it seems to say to you on a personal level. The more decks you study, the wider your vocabulary will grow. Don’t worry about explicitly memorizing each new meaning you learn or create – your mind can assimilate far more information than you can imagine and a given meaning will come back to you when the time is right.

For example, take a look at these three Devil cards. The first is from the Radiant Rider-Waite deck, the second is from the Robin Wood Tarot, and the third is from the Cosmic Tarot.

You probably already know that two of the core meanings for the Radiant Rider-Waite Devil card are addiction and self-imposed difficulties. (There are more, but let’s use these for now.) Look at the Robin Wood Devil. It seems to me that the couple is unnecessarily dragging the chest with them and that they are allowing it to impede their progress to the open door. The two phrases I get for this card are impeding your own progress and unnecessarily clinging to negative energies. The Cosmic Tarot Devil is a rather dapper fellow who seems to be quite materialistic and in control of people and things around him. The two phrases that jump to my mind here are stop taking yourself so seriously and you’re trying to take too much control. (You’ll certainly come up with more meanings as you study these cards more carefully.) At this point you’ve increased your Tarot Vocabulary and can now incorporate these means as appropriate in your readings.

The difference in the artwork between your current decks and the ones you’re beginning to explore will trigger new discoveries about symbolism in general, and the symbolism in your cards in particular. You’ll naturally want to understand the symbolism in the decks you’re studying, especially as to how it differs from the symbolism you already know. This will automatically broaden your symbolic knowledge, and will also produce a beneficial side effect. As you return to look at your current decks, you’ll begin to notice intricacies and characteristics in your cards that you previously missed – it will very likely add a certain amount of clarity and nuance to your readings.

The flow of the artwork within the Major Arcana or a given suit will provide new perspectives to your current view of the cards. You’ll begin to see different aspects that you may have not thought about before, and new patterns between the cards will emerge. You’ll also learn how the slightest details can make enormous differences in your readings, details such as the position of a figure, the color scheme of a background, the placement of an object, or the facial expression of a given figure. These will all make a difference in the final story you reveal for the reading.

Take a look at the Devil cards once again. Note how the figures in the Radiant Rider-Waite deck are at a complete standstill. In contrast, notice the struggle going on in the Robin Wood Tarot’s Devil – you can tell the couple is desperately trying to move that chest forward. The Devil in the Cosmic Tarot seems to be trying to avoid looking forward and has a condescending smirk, as if he knows something that everyone else doesn’t know. These are all subtleties and perspectives that you can now draw upon to add extra depth to your readings.

It’s simply amazing how studying a few other decks for a while will make you see your current decks in a new light, enabling you to get deeper and richer readings from them. The ultimate benefit from doing this is that you’ve broadened your knowledge and understanding of the cards and certainly moved out of your comfort zone.

Third: To identify specialty decks.

There’s an old saying that goes, “Use the right tool for the job.” This was brought to my attention in a crystal clear manner by my Automotive Shop instructor back in high school when he said “Don’t use a screw driver to remove the brake shoes, use the brake shoe tool!” Years later I found it also applied to the use of my guitars as a professional guitarist. I certainly wouldn’t use my Fender Stratocaster to play Tarrega classical pieces, and I wouldn’t use my Takamine Classical guitar to play James Brown funk. I’d use the right guitar for the job.

In studying other decks, you’ll eventually learn that certain decks lend themselves to specific types of issues or situations. These decks can become the Specialty Decks in your collection that you’ll use on those occasions when your regular decks just don’t seem to reveal the depth and detail you need for the reading. Here are two examples of how this works for me.

I find that the Osho Zen Tarot is particularly good for inward readings, that is, when the focus must be on the client’s personal, innermost thoughts, feelings and viewpoints. The artwork really lends itself to looking inward, and everyone for whom I’ve read using this deck has walked away from the reading with the sense of having made a true connection with his or her inner self.

I really prefer the Cosmic Tarot for relationship readings. There is a lot of intensity in the deck, especially in the figures of the people. I’ve often used a court card to describe “the other person” and I’ve been surprisingly accurate. I also like the broad range of emotion that the cards provide – it really provides a depth that I’ve seen only occasionally in other decks.

I’ve got several specialty decks, and I use them in the same manner that I use my guitars – I use the “right” deck for the given topic.

Expand Your Horizons

Aside from using other decks for your readings, try using two decks for a single reading. Or three, if you’re feeling particularly adventurous. You’ll be amazed at the layers of meaning you’ll see if you do this. The cards you draw from both decks will typically support each other in terms of the message itself, and in some cases, the cards from both decks will be so close in meaning to each other that the overall message becomes undeniably clear.

I hope I’ve given you ample food for thought and some good reasons to consider using a variety of decks for your readings. Let me be clear about something, though: I’m not saying that you actually have to use the decks you study, but I sure think it’s a great way to keep your readings fresh. I also think it’s just a whole lot of fun!

Images from the Rider-Waite Tarot and the Cosmic Tarot copyright U.S. Games Systems. Images from the Robin Wood Tarot copyright Llewellyn Publishing. Images from the Osho Zen Tarot copyright St. Martin’s Press.

I’m continually amazed at just how much the Tarot can reveal about the various aspects of our being and our soul. It’s fascinating to see how it can expose the superficial veneer that we sometimes try to pass off as our true selves or uncover those buried, almost forgotten parts of our deepest thoughts and emotions.

It’s also incredible how the Tarot shows the characteristics, experiences, and paths that we all share as human beings. The Major Arcana has for some time now been associated with the archetypes that all humans share through the collective unconsciousness. I also believe, though, that the four suits of the Tarot portray the day-to-day life experiences that everyone encounters at some time or another during their lives.

I’ve discovered yet another aspect about ourselves that the Tarot reflects – the three basic phases of our existence.

It Started With A Riddle…

I recently encountered a well-known riddle in an article I was reading, and it immediately made me think of the Tarot. It occurred to me that the Tarot rather clearly illustrates the riddle itself, and embodies the riddle’s answer overall.

Here’s the riddle:

I walk on four legs in the morning, on two legs in the evening, and on three legs at night. What am I?

The answer: A human.

• Walking on four legs represents man in his infancy – he uses his arms and legs to crawl around and get from one place to another.
• Walking on two legs represents man in his middle years – he walks straight and with confidence, taking on life’s challenges and achieving his goals.
• Walking on three legs represents man in his old age – he now uses a cane to walk because his body is tired and spent from years of doing weary, physically demanding work.

I quickly realized that the Tarot reflects the riddle’s answer through combinations of cards from both the major and minor arcana. The challenge before me now was to figure out just which cards I would use to depict the answer.

The Three Phases of Human Existence

The riddle infers three basic phases of existence: Infancy, Adulthood, and Old Age. As I thought about how the Tarot reflects these phases, I realized that it would be a good idea to change “Infancy” to “Childhood” as there are only two or three cards with infants in them. I also remembered just how well the Tarot tells the truth – it shows both potential sides of human existence, that is, the light and the dark.

NOTE: Although I show particular cards for each phase, I don’t necessarily refer to any of them specifically. I basically just tell the story I think they convey. That story will always appear below the image of the cards.

Phase 1 – Childhood

The Tarot does portray childhood, although in a very general way. I found it slightly odd at first, but then I realized that childhood represents our initial formative years – we are just beginning to evolve and learn about life. As such, these are the cards I thought best reflected this phase.

* All card images in this article are from the original Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot deck, Copyright © U.S. Games Systems.

We come to our journey in this plane of existence with all the naivety and innocence of the Fool. How can we do otherwise? We begin enveloped within the safe, loving and warm environment of our mothers’ wombs, and it is they who will finally introduce us into this world. We initially enter the world blissfully and we’re happy to be in our new homes. Here’s where we first encounter the ways and realities of the Universe, however, as some are born into harsh environments with adverse situations and difficult relationships while others are born into pleasant environments with nurturing situations and loving relationships. In either case, we begin to recognize in our teens that there are cycles in life, that there are many more lessons to learn as we grow older, and that life is just really beginning at this point. (The figures in the four corners of the Wheel of Fortune card are all studying books, which underscores the whole notion of continual learning.)

Phase 2 – Adulthood

This seems to be the phase in which the Tarot really does a good job of revealing what we go through during this time in our lives, which, in my opinion, transpires between our mid-twenties to early-fifties. It clearly illustrates the energetic, materialistic, intellectual and emotional aspects of our lives, and reminds us that life is a continuing set of exercises on balance and moderation. What is really clear is that this happens to all of us regardless of our age, gender, societal position, philosophy or belief system. Here are 20 cards that I believe depict the four aspects of this phase of our lives.

The Energetic Side of Life

Entering our adulthood can be a scary or exciting time of our lives, depending upon how our experiences have gone thus far. The central issue seems to be growth, and we immediately begin to ask questions such as “What do I do now?”, “Where do I go from here?” We also seem to be concerned with where and how we will now focus our energies. The Universe is good about providing us with opportunities for growth and learning, if we will only see them. As we enter adulthood, we literally have the world in our hands and it is up to us to decide how we will move forward; we eventually learn to be mindful for opportunities that may appear at any time so that we may continually evolve and gain more experience. We eventually learn that to live life is to take risks, albeit in a hopefully considered manner. There will be times when the risks we take will be challenging, stressful and will fail, but there are also times when the risks we take will be trouble-free and successful. And, as we get older, we’ll learn how to follow our passions with greater enthusiasm and focus our energies more effectively.

The Materialistic Side of Life

We all enter adulthood wondering how we’re going to make our way in life. How are we going to grow and sustain ourselves both physically and fiscally? How, where and when will we start a family? How will we ensure our future security in old age? The Tarot reveals that the Universe will present us with opportunities to make our way through the material realm of our lives, and our level of success is in direct proportion to our ability to see those opportunities and act on them. Of course, we’ll soon learn that we’ll constantly have to weigh the pros and cons of each situation carefully so that we can maintain a balance between our health and our wealth. Sometimes we will choose unwisely and find ourselves in difficult situations where we may even need to seek the help of others, and other times we’ll make decisions that lead us to more prosperous situations where we can even lend a hand to those in need. As we mature, we eventually learn to work methodically, channel our experiences to our advantage, and move forward patiently.

The Intellectual Side of Life

How naïve we are as we emerge from our teens. We think we know it all, but then discover that the unabashed truth is that we do not. We enter adulthood with the realization that there is so much more to learn, that what we thought was important truly is not, and that we need to learn how to communicate more clearly and effectively. In short, we need a fresh perspective on life. The Tarot shows us that the Universe will provide us with that new perspective, and will help us adjust it as we work our way through adulthood. We’ll learn that we must maintain a calm mind to make sound decisions. There will be times when we need to make decisions based on pure facts, regardless of what we see around us, and other times when we must broaden our view and see things in context. There will be times when situations put our minds under great stress, even to the point of affecting our emotional state, but there will be other times when our minds our clear and focused and we can conquer whatever fears and doubts we may have. Our experiences and maturity eventually bring us to a point where we can assess situations and think more quickly, thus building our self-confidence and giving us a more clear perspective of our self-image.

The Emotional Side of Life

Moving from our childhood to adulthood from an emotional aspect is probably one of the hardest things we have to do. Most of us emerge from an environment where we feel we’re the center of our universe and have the notion that “it’s all about me” to one where we begin to realize that each of us is just a single, tiny planet in a large sector of the universe and that it’s actually about more than just me. It’s also during this transition that we realize just how much our egos can become a nuisance. The Tarot, however, shows us that the Universe will provide us with opportunities to develop and refine our emotions as we mature. We’ll definitely learn about relationships and, hopefully, find someone with whom we can share our lives. We will know sadness and sometimes great sorrow, but we will also know happiness and sometimes great joy. We will learn much about emotions as we go through adulthood, and those lessons will enable us to weather the emotional storms we encounter with a greater sense of calm and patience.

Phase 3 – Old Age

We have experienced much by the time we reach this age of our lives. We’ve gotten a handle on our passions and learned how to focus our energies on those things that are important to us, been through the challenges and successes of everyday life, learned how to reason and think more clearly, and managed to control our egos and find joy in the smallest of things.

Although we’ve been through many cycles during our lives up until now, the Tarot shows us that, even at this stage, we still have yet more to learn. We’ve reached the stage where our lives are abundant with the experiences that come with engaging life as fully as we can, and we’ve become comfortably grounded and centered by those experiences. We’ve also gained the confidence that comes through learning from our failures and being humble about our successes. We are willful, yet compassionate; disciplined, yet flexible; and we have (hopefully) managed to bring some amount of balance to the female and male aspects of our character. Now we are at a crossroads in our lives. On the one hand we are reflective, looking back on our lives, reviewing what we’ve done and contemplating the lessons we’ve learned. On the other hand, we’re now more concerned with our place in the Universe and the universal scheme of things. Who are we now? Where do our passions lie and what is our true place in the world? What do we think and what, finally, is our philosophy of life? How do we feel and how do we really define our spirituality?

Finding Balance in Our Lives

The Universe seems to be based on the idea of opposites and balance. (Although I could devote an entire article on this statement alone, let’s consent to this premise for the sake of this conversation.) We see many opposites in the universe – up, down; white, black; good, bad; in, out; night, day; past, future; right, wrong; light, dark; the list could go on and on. Balance seems to be a state to which we should aspire in order to live a good life. Too much food or too little food will make you ill; too much light or too little light will make it difficult for you to see things around you; too much exercise or too little exercise can have an adverse effect on your body; this list can go on and on, too. The Tarot clearly depicts how the notions of opposites and balance affect our lives, both on a mundane, day-to-day level and on a higher, more spiritual level.

We spend most of our lives expending our energies to work hard in order to build a comfortable, relaxing life for ourselves. Having too much to do can severely deplete our energy and spending too much time doing nothing can make us quite lethargic. The Tarot reminds us to strike a balance between our work and personal time so that we may lead a more fulfilling and reasonably active life.

Life provides us with a constant set of exercises involving managing our minds and our hearts. We can often get overly stressed in certain situations (which in many instances is self-imposed) and we can allow ourselves to be overly optimistic in others (the result of attempting to deny or suppress doubt and fear). Again, the Tarot reminds us to strike a balance, in this case between our minds and our hearts. When our minds are calm we can feel tranquil and at peace, and when our hearts are relaxed we are more confident and at ease.

By the time we reach old age, we’ve lived long enough to see both sides of the human condition – the dark side manifested as evil and the bright side manifested as love. We’ve also experienced the darkness and brightness in ourselves as we’ve worked through the various cycles of our lives. The Tarot reminds us that these two sides do, indeed, exist in everyone and that one of our greatest lessons on this plane of existence is to learn how to bring them into balance.

We’ve also experienced times of sacrifice (sometimes great, sometimes small) when it seemed that the Universe itself was against us and there was no end to our dilemma in sight. But the Tarot shows us clearly that sacrifices can lead to enlightenment and further self-awareness, and that, above all, there is always hope. The important lesson here is that we must constantly work on replenishing our hope by keeping ourselves in balance and placing our trust and faith in the Universe and the Creator.

Coming to an End to Start Yet Again

As I said earlier, the Tarot is very good about telling the truth. It’s also very good at telling complete stories, and the story we’ve seen thus far is no different.

This is the simplest message of all and provides a fitting end to our story. The Tarot clearly shows us that Old Age must come to an end at some point in time, and we must make the great transition to the next plane of existence. We will be called at the appropriate time (such is the way of the Universe) and we will exit from our life as we’ve known it. We’ve learned all that we needed to learn, experienced all that we needed to experience, and have become whole unto ourselves. Finally, and most importantly, we’re ready to begin a new journey.

Parting Thoughts

It’s funny how a simple riddle evoked such an introspective reaction in me, motivating me to discover how the Tarot reveals and depicts these phases of human existence. I’m constantly amazed at the depths of wisdom and knowledge I can glean from the Tarot, which some see as merely a stack of 78 cardboard cards with artwork on them. They are far more than that to me. They are a tool for divination, a device for self-discovery, and an instrument for gaining spiritual wisdom and guidance.

I hope this article helped you to see the Tarot from a new or fresh perspective, enabled you to discover more about your own life and life’s path, and inspired you to work with the Tarot on a more personal level.

* This article first appeared in the March 2011 issue of Tarosophy International Magazine, published by Marcus Katz.

I was unable to make the Saturday’s round of ceremonies and feasts, but I was able to spend some personal time with her on Sunday.

More on that in a moment.

A Bit about Grandmother Margaret

Grandmother Margaret is one of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, a group of elders who “…represent a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Mother Earth, all Her inhabitants, all the children, and for the next seven generations to come.” She is an Arapaho/Cheyenne who is also known as “Red-Spider Woman”, and is the fifth generation of Sand Creek Massacre survivors.

Grandmother Margaret is a Cheyenne traditional dancer who has served as a dance leader in Oklahoma and in powwows across the country. She has been a sculptress for 30 years and creates clay figurines that have garnered many honors and awards. She’s also an accomplished and published author, poet and playwright. Grandmother Margaret currently is a leader of her tribe, a teacher of Cheyenne Culture, and the President of the Cheyenne Elders Council.

Being in the Presence of Wisdom

As I said, I did get to spend some time speaking with Grandmother Margaret, and it was a moving experience, indeed. I didn’t quite know what to expect from our meeting when I first set up my appointment to see her. Would I ask her questions? If so, about what? Would she ask me questions? Would she do a “reading” for or on me? It was all unclear to me at that moment.

All of those questions just disappeared from my mind the moment I met Grandmother Margaret. To say she is one of the wisest, kindest, most grounded person I have met in a long time is an understatement. I immediately felt at ease with her, and her slight smile emitted so much warmth. As we took our first picture, she held her arm around me closely, as a grandmother would with a child or grandchild. I felt as if we were family.

We then went into an adjacent room and had a private chat for about 20 minutes. We looked right into each other‘s eyes as I told her a little bit about myself. I told her that I was a Tarot reader, that I had been called to do this by Spirit, and that I am more spiritually connected now that I have ever been in my entire life. I spoke of the help and assistance I’ve provided to others via the Tarot, and how gratifying it has been to share my gifts for the greater good. I told her about my close relationships with trees and birds, and my especially close association and relationship with the Thunderbird.

Grandmother Margaret clasped my hands and said how pleased she was to hear this. She looked deep into my eyes, told me that I already know a lot and know what I’m doing, and that it is now time for me to take the next step. “What next step, Grandmother?” She indicated that I should study and learn about Spirituality more deeply or become a teacher to pass on what I know about my gifts. I told her that I’m convinced I’ve been called to teach and she said that this, then, is what I should pursue. She also said that I should write about my experiences with the trees and that I should work more with Thunderbird. “There are other people who talk to nature and think they’re going crazy. You must show them that this is not true, that it is a gift from Spirit. Show them the way and let them learn from you.”

Grandmother and I talked about a lot of things for a long time– or so it seemed. I asked her more questions – about sacred numbers, about Thunderbird, about visions – and we had a wonderful conversation. It’s funny how much we covered in so little time. Perhaps we were both in a place where there really was no time; when we were done, the time was exactly where it was supposed to be.

I learned a lot during that afternoon, about myself, about life, and about sharing. Grandmother taught me new things, and validated things I had read about myself and my life through my own Tarot readings and those of a close, trusted fellow reader. She is a very wise woman and elder, and I feel truly blessed that I had a chance to spend time with her.

Grandmother Margaret graciously gave me her blessing before she left, speaking in the language of her people. It was incredible. Since then, I’ve felt so good and wonderfully different in a way I just can’t describe. I’ll never forget that afternoon, and I know that Grandmother Margaret will be with me now wherever I may be.