From what I’ve said on the welcome page, you will already know that I see the Tarot as a useful and powerful tool to assist you in the process of self-discovery and awakening. Tarot cards embody symbolic and archetypal moments that can happen to any of us, at any time of our lives, and in which we may recognise ourselves.
Even if you did not understand them, you could spread the cards out on the table in front of you, and you would not see a merely random selection of meaningless pictures.
In the curious names of the cards and their strange imagery, rooted in the remote past, you would catch a glimpse in an unchanging mirror of human life. Your curiosity might awaken, and you might wonder about the feeling effect the cards have on you.
You might not understand them fully, yet wonder how the cards seem both so familiar and totally unfamiliar at the same time. That is because they are archetypal. They are connected to all of our distant pasts, through antiquity to the present day and they emerge from the collective unconscious.
Looking at a few cards on the table and seeing them without quite understanding them, is like looking into a real mirror and seeing your reflection, yet failing to understand yourself and failing to notice your invisible spiritual self.
However, if you choose, you could use your inward eye and attempt to see into your own depths, to bring what is unconscious into consciousness.
So it is with the Tarot: if you choose to study and learn from it, you will find that it starts to reveal you to you. The more you understand it, the more it serves as an inward reflection, as a spiritual mirror.
It is in this Spiritual Mirror that we can begin to recognise ourselves. In a synchronous way, we find that certain cards correspond precisely to an inner state, and also to our state in relation to the external world.
Of course, the state of your inner landscape is an inherent part of you, whether you pick up a pack of Tarot cards or not. It’s there, even if you don’t know quite what your inward state is or how to find it.
But Tarot can be an invaluable part of that process. It enables you to gain clearer insights into your life, to see what qualities need to be developed within you and what needs to be released.
For the person who understands them, these cards are a wonderful way of acquiring self knowledge, of helping us to awaken and come into consciousness.
It’s part of a sacred journey.
For the person who understands them, these cards are a wonderful way of acquiring self knowledge, of helping us to awaken and come into consciousness. It’s part of a sacred journey. Tarot cards can be a part of the goal of not just knowing yourself, but of being your self.
Before retirement, I was a Transpersonal Psychotherapist, counsellor and bereavement counsellor. Transpersonal psychotherapy is like any other form of Jungian-based therapy, except it has a significant spiritual dimension.
It’s not so much about religion, as an acceptance that we all have a soul, which might have its own ideas about why you incarnated on Planet Earth this time around!
And if that’s the case, it might be a good idea to get to know that deepest part of yourself and to get into a healthy relationship with it.
I have also trained in EMDR, and spiritual hands-on healing, amongst other things. Tarot has been a part of my personal practice for almost 25 years now, and it has been a vital part of my spiritual practice for the last 4 years.
Before psychotherapy, I was a lawyer specialising in civil litigation and I worked in the City of London, dealing with mainly financial matters. I took a break from that while I was raising my family, then decided to have a career shift and retrain as a therapist.
People invariably say to me that those two aspects of my life seem very different from each other, and don’t seem to be connected.
Certainly it wasn’t what I expected to happen when I was in my 20’s! But now it just feels like different stages on the trajectory of my life as a whole.
The law is focussed on the external, and psychotherapy is focussed on the internal. They balanced each other out. Both involve people coming to you with problems and issues, people asking for help or guidance.
Both involve a lot of boundary issues, whether they be legal or energetic. Clients coming to the law or psychotherapy for help often feel betrayed or let down due to some kind of external event.
My observation was that nobody went to either a lawyer or a psychotherapist unless they were pretty stuck with something and felt they really had to: both are a bit of a last resort. And both required me to remain calm, steady and stable.
There were obviously many differences between those two careers, and both those paths feel like they are complete now. But both have gone to inform who I am and how I see the world.
Over the years I have encountered many, many people who just sat down in front of me and told me their lives and their problems. In this way I encountered aspects of life I would never otherwise have known about.
And a third life stage is currently unfolding for me - the TarotTuber!
Another unexpected turning in my life, and one that has only just begun. I am not embarking on this project with any kind of major expectations: it gives me a great excuse to think about Tarot, self development, and to delve into all things psycho-spiritual. It is also a most intriguing reflection on our society and culture.
I am fascinated by what it says about each individual, and about the collective. So long as it feels like fun, I’ll be there on YouTube exploring Tarot-related matters.
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