Monday, September 29, 2008

Seventy Eight Degrees of Wisdom


Today, we see the Tarot as a kind of a path, a way to personal growth through understanding of ourselves and life. To some the Tarot's origin remains a vital question; for others it only matters that meanings have accrued to the cards over the years.


A person may ask the cards about some situation. The cards very directly outline the consequences of some decision, say, whether or not to go ahead with affair, or start some new project. Let us say that the cards indicate disaster, and that the person really can see the likelihood of what the cards predict. Now the person might say, 'Well, this is likely, but my free will allows me to change the situation.' So he or she goes a head and the situation turns out exactly as the cards predicted. The person has not really used free will at all; rather the idea of free will has served as an excuse for ignoring what he or she recognized as a valid projection. This is not a hypothetical situation; it happens again and again with tarot readings. It is not enough just to foresee a likely outcome for us to change or prevent that event. We must understand why it is coming, and we must work on the causes within ourselves for the things we do and the ways we react. Free will certainly exists. We just do not know how to use it. The most important thing we can learn from Tarot readings is just how little we exercise our freedom.


Tarot teaches us many things. One of the most valuable is the necessary balance of objective and subjective, action and intuition.


From SEVENTY EIGHT DEGREES OF WISDOM, A book of Tarot By Rachel Pollack

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