Know Thyself through Tarot
by Swati Prakash
We are going though one of the most radical transformations in our era…moving on towards a tomorrow in which we all will know for sure that we are all spiritual beings with infinite potential.
Tarot - a much misunderstood subject has today become a household topic with primetime focus. Its not an unfamiliar sight to witness a tarot reader drawing out cards from a deck of 78 to advise on problems ranging from relationships to career to wellbeing…This pack of cards seems to have answers to everything, doesn’t it? When in-fact it’s not the cards that reveal the answers, we do!
Tarot is now out there available for everyone to experience and learn. By all means one does enjoy the sight of a glamorous reader drawing out cards and making predictions, or maybe we can even buy a pack ourselves and read with the help of tarot manuals. And though many will prefer to go to an accomplished reader to ‘be on the safer side’, a few actually begin to learn on their own or through a mentor’s help so that they can see the future…. After-all, the future is what many of us fear, but some of us do want to be aware of and to feel in ‘control’ of. Yet it is not only the future that is brought into focus through a tarot reading. Tarot can in-fact take us into a better understanding of past and the present, help us make sense of our daily problems, issues, situations, help us make decisions and even take a trip into a world beyond the boundaries of time and place. What we must really understand however is the tremendous potential Tarot can have to open us to powerful Self-Realization.
Tarot is most popularly applied in ‘Divination’ - most often regarded as the method of predicting the future. Though that is indeed one of the most common reason people approach a tarot reader or get interested to learn tarot, astrology and other divinatory arts, I would regard divination simply as a way of opening one’s self to the divine.
An ancient Greek maxim says - Gnothi Seauton translated as “know thyself”
“Without lie, certain and most true:
What is below is like what is above, and what is above is like what is below,
to accomplish the miracle of the One thing.”
These are the words from an ancient tablet shrouded in mystery regarding its origin.
Thousands of years ago before the advent of organized religions, the ancients knew the truth that the divine spark is within each one of us and makes us one with the One - the all knowing… all pervading universal soul. What this means is that we are not separate from the divine, in fact we are a perfect representation of the divine - for as it is above, so it is below.
What the Tarot really does is provides us a small glimpse into the universal plan, a mirror into which we can see ourselves and all there is. The pattern of the cards really reflects a cosmic pattern. Contrary to certain perceptions, this is also what I would say astrology does…we see the pattern of the stars as corresponding with the patterns of our lives. The planets need not be seen as some entities that are ‘controlling’ our lives or literally bestowing their ‘influence’ on us. They are however providing us the signs and symbols that help us know more about the world within. Learned masters have found that the cosmic pattern can reflect in many ways, in the stars, in the tarot cards, in playing cards, in a bowl of water or a teacup, in the throw of a dice or the toss of coins. These are just mirrors to look into, in which we see our reflection. They are all divinatory arts. If we only could see the truth in this reflection we will get closer to knowing ‘who we really are’.
And who we really are is both our lower self namely physical, mental and emotional selves, and our higher self - that is astral, soul(ar) and divine selves. But most of us get bound to our earthly realms through a ‘veil’ that seems to separate this higher self from our lower self. In the shadow of this veil we get into the comfort of ignorance and live our day to day lives forgetting our essential natural self. In operating with our lower selves we cater to all our basic needs of survival, pleasure and safety but ignore the call to discover reality. Isn’t this a bit like the ‘Matrix’ a world of mundane existence where we are trapped if we live without awareness of the Truth, not knowing that we are indeed -the One.
Still, each one of us has some contact with our higher selves. By the process of learning lessons over many-many lifetimes and progressing further through our evolutionary cycles, our veil becomes thinner and thinner making us more intuitive and receptive. This is why most of us feel psychic to some extent or another at some point of time in our lives. I am sure most of us have had at least some experience where an inner guidance helped us solve a problem defying all logical reasoning, or when a dream turned literally true, or when we just had an uncanny feeling something or someone was coming our way and it did. That’s when the veil had temporarily shifted, enabling us to glimpse the other-side…towards the dimension where everything is indeed possible. That’s when we could somehow be in contact with our higher self, the part of us that truly ‘knows’….. not ‘believes’ but ‘knows’.
What if we could consciously develop our psychic skills continuously and consciously learn to look through the veil and contact our ‘higher selves’…to reach that part of us we have forgotten in our mundane lives? This does not mean we give up our jobs or worldly responsibilities. This simply means we become more and more aware, more and more in tune with the divine forces of nature, reaching closer and closer to God that is in-fact within each of us but appears to be apart, ……one step at a time we go ahead on the path, and once the veil dissipates fully, in the end, that’s when we all learn what it really means to Be ….with perfect love and perfect trust. Empowered by this loving light we can then choose to make a new beginning. By knowing the truth, we can lead our lives and transform many others with greater responsibility, humility, more love and universal compassion in this life and beyond.
This is what we should know we are getting into by taking the path of Tarot. The call is ours. So what will you choose….the Red Pill or the Blue Pill?
