Echoside: Phoenix Rose

The Chariot. Photo credit: Phoenix Rose This comes from the Apophenia Tarot by Steven Archer. The deck's stark imagery is captivating, in my opinion. When I was gifted the deck I did not know much about Archer. The deck had no guide book and on his website the artist said there would never be a book. I admire his brazen honesty. Archer stated that he only created the deck because his fans kept pushing for it, that he himself is an artist and not into tarot at all. The cards are a fan bit and nothing more. The title, apophenia, makes so much sense given his statement. As someone who has read tarot for half of my life I can see how, as an artist, Archer did a great job with this deck. I feel artists have a way of channeling things and end up with something they didn't know they knew. One card in particular struck me. The Chariot. Pictured is JFK, the First Lady is not with him, but the Lincoln Continental, the grassy knoll, and arrows imply his ...

A conversation happened recently where a good friend was asking about the concept of how tarot decks have to be given to you, that you shouldn't buy one for yourself. He threw out his deck based on this information he was told. While this old wives tale has a mysterious allure to it, almost a romanticism that somehow makes a deck more special, it is still just an old wives tale. There is an adage to "the deck must be given" and it's "or stolen." I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not becoming a thief to acquire a deck, not in today's day and age when they are so readily available! Our fore-mothers, the old wives that made up all these tales, I do not wish to discredit them. There are still nuggets of truths that are valid today, though some things just no longer hold truth, and we need to use discernment in the now-moment. I have been given decks that I absolutely adore. My first deck, Rider-Waite-Smith, was given to me. I did my best to...

Something I have learned reading tarot is how important it is to understand that the future is written in sand and not in stone. We have the power of choice in most situations. Yes, there are situations beyond our control - recognizing those situations and letting go of trying to control them is the most liberating feeling. Distinguishing between what we can control and what we can't control is a line that has not been clearly defined in this society. What you can control: your actions/behaviours and your thoughts. With the added caveat to controlling your thoughts - you cannot control what thoughts pop into your head - what you can control is what you think of, and do with, those thoughts. Confused yet? I promise it is an easier concept than reading about thinking of thoughts. As humans we are metacognative: the ability to think about thinking. As an observer/seeker stand point, we are able to observe the thoughts that pop in our heads. If we believe those thoughts to be true t...

I have spoke through a couple posts now about spreads. I feel like I've been avoiding this. I have no idea why, they are just tarot spreads! As stated in last week 's post, I listed some of my favourite questions to ask to get an open-ended reading (the intent is to be as objective as possible). This week I will talk on how I do my layouts. I use the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid . I have used intricate layouts such as this name spread described here , it was very time consuming and convoluted. Starting out with a small spread and working from there is always the most helpful. Three or four cards, plus one or two clarifiers - only if needed. Take note of any "jumpers" from the deck when shuffling. For me, if a card jumps/falls out of the deck when shuffling I don't always include it in the reading. If it lands face down I put it back in deck. If it lands face up I feel it was trying to be seen. Also, knowing the difference between whether you are a go...

I find there are two types of people that come to tarot: those with very specific questions, and those who have no idea what they want to know. As a reader it is easier to read when specifics are involved, however looking for too specific an answer does not allow the cards to offer alternative possibilities. The best is to find an easy medium between specific and open-ended. Focusing on one aspect helps to narrow down the reading because every card holds many meanings depending on how you read them. The Big 3 topics that most people want insight on: career, relationships, and health. Your question does not have to be limited to one of the Big 3, but it's an example of choosing an aspect that you want to focus on. Asking, "where is my career/relationship/health heading?" Is focused enough onto a topic and open-ended enough to give many possibilities.  However, it may still be too open-end. Your career may take a fabulous turn, but that may not happen for 10 years down ...

Last week I said that I would be posting sample questions and spreads for using tarot to navigate your life. However, I am going to go a different direction given a conversation I had this week with some dear friends in the tarot community. I do apologize and will get to it in a future post. This seemed like a more pressing thing to talk about as even the most skilled readers will ask other readers for input in interpreting cards for themselves. This is because it can be difficult to remain objective when you are too close to the situation. We can't see the forest for the trees. How I learned to become objective for myself is to read cards for other people. Not close friends and family. Reading for absolute strangers (you can find many groups where readers do free exchanges). Reading for people or situations you know little about can have a great impact on exercising your intuition. One mistake I made reading for myself is that I would look up every single possible meaning of e...

In last week's Tarot Talks I spoke of comparing yourself with the have-nots in life and how tarot can take you out of that head-space and provide clarity and offer a different perspective. This week I would like to go a bit further into using clarity provided by tarot. This is a bit of a paradox because tarot can sometimes have us raising more questions than answering the ones we came in with. It is true that tarot is complex, but it doesn't have to be complicated. Learning it's language -  I don't mean memorizing the instruction book either - and how it speaks to you is the key to a successful and insightful reading. Oftentimes tarot gives insight into different paths when we find ourselves at a crossroads. I don't believe that tarot should be used as a GPS, but rather should be used as a compass. GPS systems have a set destination and you follow exactly where the voice tells you to go. A compass on the other hand tells you where True North is and it's up ...

We all search for clarity in various ways. While the motivations may be different for the individual, it all comes from a place of comparisons - wanting what others' have that we don't, believing the grass is greener on the other side, or even comparing our current reality to what we think our life " should " look like. This place of comparing emphasizes our insecurities and doubts. It makes our frustration signal rise and the downward spiral begins. We become clouded and need to clear the way to make more effective decisions in our lives. Tarot is a tool that helps move from a place of comparing to a place of clarity Tarot is a tool to help gain clarity into a confusing or frustrating situation. The place of comparing isn't necessarily a negative thing, as humans we need to be able to compare, make sound judgments that could literally mean life or death. We tend to take this comparing to other levels: jealousy, envy, self-doubting, insecurities, and feelings...

Have you ever been really excited about a new tarot or oracle deck that you just received, but then you start working with it and you just don't seem to mesh well with it even though you really want to?  This has happened to me on a couple occasions until I learned what a deck interview was. It's important to learn how to best work with your decks. A deck interview is a spread that can help you determine the "personality" of your cards.  Instead of answering typical questions about you and your situation, you are asking the tarot cards questions about themselves. The point of doing this is to help you to work with the deck in a more meaningful way.  I learned the importance of this when I first started using Healing with the Angels oracle cards by Doreen Virtue.  I was new to working with angel decks and I thought I would use this to study the archangels.  For some reason all my readings and spreads were way off in left field, and I ended up feeling prog...