Tarot as a Meditation… and Power Rangers!
I give little creedence to the thought that Tarot draw upon supernatural powers (maybe a tiny bit of creedence, but certainly very very little). But they are certainly good as a meditation on a subject. It can be something that helps you focus your thoughts on a matter.
And then this comes along… This is the card Charlotte recently drew from the Voyager Tarot when meditating about her uncertain future and the thoughts of moving west.
This is the trust card… You may notice the Golden Gate bridge and the SF skyline… and it’s probably nothing but I mailed her a little plastic frog a few days before she pulled the card.
I’m reminded of the famous scene in the 1995 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Movie just after the Rangers got their powers. One is embued with the majestic powers of a giant mechanized crane, another gains giant ape powers. And Adam… well… Dulcea looked at the forlorn new Black Ranger Adam. She asked, “Adam, what is wrong?”
Adam responds with a sullen expression of frustration and futility saying, “I’m a frog.”
I’m glad I saw it in the theater. Heck it was way better than Star Wars I.
I SAW THAT IN THE THEATER WITH YOU!!!!!
And that was the best line and the best line-read in the whole movie. Did I tell you I finally got his autograph?
It says “It’s Morphin Time.”
Really.
Hahah! Yes we did see it together! It’s really good to hear from you Maura!
I think about that scene a lot. It’s part of my mental repetoire though I very rarely ever mention it because I know that most people wouldn’t understand even if I explained it very carefully. You get it. We get it. And that’s what’s important.
—-
Oh my… even though I wrote about this whole thing, I never actually said the line outloud until a moment ago. It evokes such joy that I am unable to keep from grinning ear to ear after saying it!
I’m a frog!
This is my take on Tarot. Take or leave whatever parts of it you want.
Tarot does not draw on “supernatural” powers. (I don’t believe in SUPERnatural powers because, if they exist, then they are part of nature by definition.) Tarot unlocks the power of the subconcious mind, the part of us that knows more than it is letting on. The images are archetypal, we connect to them on different levels. They are also general enough that each seeker will be able to interpret them in their own way and relate them to their own life. The symbolism is broad enough to be possibly related to many many contexts. In other words, it’s a trick.
BUT, that’s the beauty of it. Somehow, if the seeker’s mind is open and receptive to it, the Tarot is able to trick them into seeing things they already knew on some level, in a different context, as if for the first time, or at least the first time in that way.
Thus, the open minded seeker gets from a Tarot reading profound insight into their life, and someone going into a reading with skepticism gets to see through a sham. The seeker is looking for information (with a little bit of mystery, whether they admit it or not), and the skeptic is looking to expose a fraud (with a little bit of self-righteous superiority, whether they admit it or not), and they both get what they are looking for.
Now, that’s magick!
Here here!
Tarot unlocks the power of the subconcious mind….the images are archetypal, we connect to them on different levels.
D, you are right. It is a tool to focus thoughts… The beauty of the “trick” is to get people to see through their layers of stuff to the answer that should be otherwise clear. Most of the time people have an idea of what they need to see, they simply can not. Therapy works much the same way…pointing out the “almost” obvious, when people are ready to see it.
Another thing that I think is funky about Tarot is that it’s one of those things where “Believing is Seeing.” For it to really work its best, you need to believe it will. If you don’t believe it will work, it won’t, and what your subconscious knows will remain safely under your “layers of stuff.”
Counterintuitive to those raised in this age’s “Church of Rationality,” but true nonetheless.
Good point.
Derek, your evaluation is excellent. Thanks :-)