In general, divination is the process of engaging with symbolic representations of universal energies to bypass our rational mind and tap into our intuitive capacities. Tarot is a powerful divination tool because it simultaneously represents multiple layers of symbolic language. The primary symbolic languages of tarot are spiritual alchemy (hermeticism), Judeo-Christian mysticism (Qabalah), and astrology.

We can use tarot to gain insight into any situation—and I mean any situation. It’s good to be aware that any spread can (and, in my view, should) be looked at from both its archetypal and traditional interpretation. This is one reason we use the Heaven & Earth Tarot; the deck is designed to be used this way!

• Archetypal, or Heavenly, interpretations refer to the process of unraveling the greater meanings and mysteries involved in our subjective experience. Carl Jung is credited with mainstreaming this individuation process of spiritual alchemy (high magick).
• Traditional, or Earth, interpretations forecast the conditions and circumstances of real-world events, similar to checking the weather.

There are as many ways of working with tarot as there are people who use tarot decks, which is exactly as it should be. My hope is that the process of this course will give you a strong enough foundation to feel comfortable exploring your own “right way” to use the cards. While this is the ultimate truth, the process of learning the tried-and-true symbolic language and standard ways of interpreting the tarot is essential. It’s like learning to play the scales and basic chords so that you can begin to play music. That’s where this course comes in!

General Divination Categories

The trumps, aces, court cards, and pips all have general divinatory roles.

• Trumps typically point to karmic (or Cosmic) forces at play.
• Aces represent the “white light” version, or source energy, of the entire suit. I.e., the “world” of the suit.
• Court cards represent human controlling factors, such as the “personality” of a person, situation, or individual decision. They bring the energy of the suit to bear in many different ways. One basic concept that is often useful is:
  • Princesses are transitioning.
  • Knights are conflicting.
  • Queens are unifying.
  • Kings are creating.
• Pips represent constructs that are present in the situation.
  • A construct is a concept or framework that represents the real-world workings of a system or event.

To summarize, we can say that pips and aces tell us what situations are in play. The trumps tell us what universal factors are exerting pressure on those situations, either to create or evolve them. The court cards tell us about human factors that are involved.

Conducting a Reading

Readings are conducted by holding a question, manipulating the cards with shuffling and/or cutting, arranging them (called a spread), and allowing a story to unfold. I cannot emphasize enough that there is no “right way” to do this. The specific ways of questioning, manipulating, and arranging the cards are as diverse as those who use tarot!

That said, there are some basics you can practice starting today that will support your journey through this course, should you choose to begin doing readings before we officially arrive at that point in our program – which I strongly recommend!

Here are the steps that seem to get people started well.

1. Enjoy yourself! We can’t be receptive if we’re locked up about getting it right, and we’ll practice a lot more if we’re just enjoying ourselves. There are no grades here. This is all about you and your experience, which no one can judge. (If you’re trying to be a professional reader and charge people, that might be slightly different…)
   • Weather forecasting is a great analog. The further away from “now” you get, the less likely the reading will be accurate. No one fires weather forecasters each time their 7-day predictions are off, do they?
2. Begin handling your cards. Get comfortable cutting and shuffling them. Break them in.
3. As you handle your cards, randomly draw one and look at it. See what comes up for you. If you have a reference text with you, look it up and scan through what it says. But if you don’t, just see what you see!

This kind of “one-card horoscope,” also called a pull, is one of the quickest and most entertaining ways to get familiar with the cards and solicit them for (very) general guidance. It’s like taking a peek out of a window to get a sense of the day’s weather but not actually stepping outside.

As you “play” with your tarot deck, you’ll want to try something a little more formal and precise, in which case,

1. Formulate the question in your mind.
2. Shuffle until it feels like time to stop.
3. Cut the deck randomly if it feels right to do so.
4. Draw the top card and lay it down in front of you.
   • This is the “first word” of the reading. Spend some time hearing its message. Use your references to understand its interpretations liberally.
5. Draw a second card and lay it near the first card in whatever orientation feels right.
   • This is the “expansion” of the reading. Listen to its message and feel how it modifies the “first word.”
6. Finally, lay a third card near the other two in whatever way feels right.
   • This is the “clarification” of the reading. See how it “completes the sentence” of the cards.
7. Keep with it until a concise answer to your question emerges.
   • To do this, you will want to spend time working through the layers of meanings of the cards, how those meanings interact, their role in the spread, and their orientations to themselves and each other,
   • If an answer isn’t forthcoming, try rewording your question based on what you experienced and restart the process.

For example, I did this reading following the above process: