Start of Term for the Tarot Study Group

The Tarot Study Group reconvenes on Thursday 3 September at 9.30 AM. We will meet at Wetherspoons as usual. We look forward to seeing you all again. New members welcome!

The Star That Never Walks Around

Right, so this isn't a Tarot deck review... It's a story about synchronicity.

I recently won the round deck Star That Never Walks Around: A Native American Tarot Package on eBay. I guess I thought my other round deck, Circle of Life Tarot/Tarot del Circulo de La Vida, needed a friend to play with. I basically bid on it because it was cheap and round.

The artwork isn't great. In fact, it does nothing for me but I like the Native American theme and the correspondences Stella Bennett (who is both the artist and the writer of the companion book) has chosen for the four tarot suits. Reading about her choice adds another dimension to my understanding of the tarot suits, and that's always nice. In fact, the 200 page companion book isn't bad at all. It would serve as a nice introduction on the Tarot to the beginner, and there is also information worth mulling over for the more experienced reader.

Did I say this was a story about synchronicity? The thing in the little companion book that really grabbed my attention was the background story on how the deck got its name. I had never heard about the Star That Never Walks Around before, but had recently begun to focus on a star that transmits healing rays in my meditations.

"The star I have chosen to represent this deck, and also incorporated in some of the cards of the deck, is the star known as the North Star, or Polaris. This is the bright star that appears in the handle of the Little Dipper, known as Little Bear to Native Americans. The Plain Indians call this star the Star That Never Walks Around because it is fixed in the sky and doesn't move around it, making it one of the most important stars in the sky, able to watch the other stars and humankind from its fixed position. They believe it to be the healer and guide of all the stars and of humans. The Star That Never Walks Around is thus chief among all the stars."

Receiving this information because I decided to place a bid on a whim proves to me that synchronicity is firmly in place in my life. As I started my 'healing star meditations' a few weeks ago, I began asking myself why I was doing them and what this healing star might be. Was it just 'my star'? Or was it something more universal? Well... I think I know the answer now - thanks to Stella, which just happens to mean 'star' in Italian.

I'll keep meditating on Polaris... It's ever so nice to be able to put a name to that 'face'!

Tarot Study Group Moved

Hi everyone,

Just to let you know that this week's Tarot Study Group has been moved to Friday. Same time and place though: 9.30 AM at Wetherspoon's. Hope everyone can make as this will be our last meeting before the summer holidays!

I have really enjoyed facilitating the study group so far - everyone has so much to contribute... and how much more fun is learning together?!


Bright blessings,
Lisa
http://tarothealingbylisa.blogspot.com

Tarot Study Group - First Meeting

Merry Meet!

During our first meeting we discussed the history and background of the tarot, tarot myths, and how to calculate your soul, personality and shadow cards.

It was a lovely morning and I'm already looking forward to next Thursday.

Here are some Tarot weblinks you might like to check out in the meantime:

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/ - the world's largest tarot community + hundreds of deck reviews, interviews with authors and tarot artists, competitions, forums, learning resources etc etc

The Gaian Oracle - try a free online 3 card Tarot reading with the beautiful Gaian Tarot!

Tarot and Personality Types - for those of you who enjoyed the brief Soul Card readings we did and who would like to know more about how the Tarot relates to personality types, the Enneagram and MBTI

Taroteca - Photo albums containing complete decks

Supertarot - A website dedicated mostly to Thoth studies but there is also loads of useful general information

Learning the Tarot - The perfect site for the Tarot novice to get started with free online Tarot lessons based on the classical Rider Waite Tarot

The World of Tarot Studies - Another useful tarot website with loads of free lessons

Tarot Journaling - How to use the Tarot to tell the story of your life

Hope you enjoy exploring these resources. See you soon!

Lisa

http://tarothealingbylisa.blogspot.com/

PS. The picture above is the Star card from the Circle of Life deck, a quirky and beautiful round deck - I might bring it along to our next session ;)

Tarot Study Group

TAROT STUDY GROUP

Thursday mornings at Wetherspoons, 9.30 - 10.30 AM

Start: 25 July 2009

Join us on a journey through the archetypal spaces of the Tarot - the most complete tool for self-discovery and spiritual development ever created. Methods of using the Tarot for group pathworking and divination will also be explored.

No previous knowledge necessary. Contact Lisa for more info.

Bring a tarot deck and a notebook, and come along for learning and fun!

THE FULL MOON SPREAD

Merry Meet to All of You!

As the Full Moon is here, Lisa and me thought about what we could do to harness its power magickally (our first ever proper ritual - exiting!).

I also devised a new Tarot spread for the night of the full moon, hence 'The Full Moon Spread'.

The aim of this spread is to see what you would like to manifest in your life and how you can go about it physically and spiritually. It also pays attention to the long term effects of such manifestation.

This is a sixteen card spread, which goes as followed:

1. The current Inner You - where you are right now in yourself

2. The current Outer You - how you are perceived by and project yourself onto the world

3. Desired outcome - what you would like to manifest in your life

4. The South Node - roots in the past, how your current status came about

5. Inner Influences - your own contributions

6. Outer Influences - contributors/-ions from the outside world

7. Western Shores - physical manifestation

8. Outer Influences - what you can harness from the outside world in order to physically

manifest your desired outcome

9. Inner Influences - what you can do in yourself to achieve manifestation

10. Wisdom of the East - spiritual manifestation

11. Higher Pathways - positive steps toward manifestation

12. Lower Pathways - inner blocks to overcome

13. North Node - the projected outcome

14. Manifestation in yourself - how the outcome affects you on the inside

15. Manifestation in the world - how the outcome affects the world around you

16. The North Star - how this manifestation may affect your further life path / long term future

The layout goes as followed:

*****************************************************16*

************************************** *13*

***********************************14*******15*

******************************8******************11*

***************************7**********(1)3(2)********10*

******************************9******************12*

**********************************5**********6**

****************************************4*

Lisa and me tested the spread for each of us and it worked really well, both of us didn't even ask a specific question, so you may use it for general guidance as well as specific needs.

So if you like to celebrate the Full Moon, feel free to use this spread and have as much fun with it as we had (feedback on how you got on with it would be very welcome!)!!!

Full Moon Blessings,

Ilona

FIRST MEETING - A BRIEF SUMMARY

Yesterday's meeting went well. Including Ilona and myself, there were five of us present - a wonderful start to a brand new fellowship of kindred spirits!

We had been forewarned that Wetherspoons is busy on a Thursday night, and this proved to be true. As the night progressed and people around us had more to drink (isn't it weird how people get really loud when they're a bit tipsy?), the noise levels made it difficult to hear what people were saying, but we managed to get to know each other quite well, and establish some common ground with regards to the reason and aims for the group.

Everyone seemed interested in learning more about 'green living' and being in harmony with nature, so this is definitely an area we'll explore in months to come.

Other ideas for future talks/information sharing were relaxation&meditation and psychic development.

We decided to explore meeting at the Black Lion on Finkle Street in Richmond for our next gathering on the 7th of May. The theme for May will be the Tarot as a tool for personal/spiritual development. More information will be posted her soon about the next meeting.

We rounded the evening off by doing the 'Crossing the River' tarot spread (see picture above).

Card 1 represents where we are now - Strength: As a group, we are ready to follow the calling of our higher selves and tame the ego with love so that unity consciousness can permeate all that we do.

Card 2 represents where we want to be - Ace of Pentacles: We long to plant a seed of something new that will manifest in physical reality. This seed will blossom into ways of living that do not harm our planet and that encourage complete embodiment of spirit in our physical bodies.

Card 3 represents the river we need to cross (the challenge) - Ace of Wands: The influx of spiritual energy that inspired us to get together can be difficult to channel into manifest reality.

Card 4 represents the bridge - The World: We cross the river by contributing with our talents in awareness of our own individual limitations, as well as a wholehearted appreciation for how each of us have a much needed gift that can be used to create unity, harmony and increased understanding.

The actual layout for the cards in this spread is:

******4****** (card 4 crosses card 3)

**1***3***2**

Bright blessings,

Lisa

http://tarothealingbylisa.blogspot.com/

TIP OF THE DAY - TAROT MEDITATION

Merry meet everyone!

I usually do a 'card of the day' first thing in the morning, with either one of my tarot decks or my Medicine Cards. This card then serves as my meditation focus for the day.

You can easily incorporate a 'card of the day' meditative focus in your daily morning meditation.

Personally, I like to start by lighting a candle, as the candle represents all the elements and is said to draw angels near. You can also light some incense to further raise the vibration.

Sit comfortably and with your back straight, shoulders relaxed. Make sure that there is nothing to restrict your breathing. Take a couple of deep breaths and sigh deeply to let all the old, stale air out of your lungs.

Ground your energy, visualising roots going out from the soles of your feet on the out-breah, all the way into the core of the earth. On the in-breath, draw the red earth energy up into your body, all the way up through the top of the head. Just above the top of the head, the scintillating red earth energy meets the white light of spirit. Breathe this white light in, and on the out-breath send it all the way down through your feet and down into the core of the earth. You are now grounded and centred.

Shuffle the cards while asking God/dess, your spiritual Master and/or the angels for daily guidance. Pull the card you feel drawn to. Sometimes this is the top card and sometimes a card will jump out all by itself. Always pay extra attention to the 'jumpers' as the most definitely contain a message/lesson from spirit.

If you've got a book that goes with the deck and you feel like reading about the card you pulled, this makes a wonderful form of meditative study. If you prefer to work strictly based on what your intuition brings you while gazing on the card, then this works equally well.

Whichever way you choose to absorb the message, make sure you note your impressions and ideas down. You can keep a special Tarot journal for this, or you can use your Book of Shadows. Personally, I prefer to blog about my daily draw. If you don't feel like sharing your thoughts online, but still prefer typing to longhand writing, you can just create a Word document for your daily card reading and keep it safe in a folder. The advantage of keeping digital copies in a special folder is easy retrieval. Label each of your entries with the name of the card and the date of the reading.

Don't forget to give thanks for the insights you've received in your meditation. The best way to come back to reality if you've floated off on a psychic cloud during your meditation is to stand up and stamp your feet a few times.

Remind yourself of the archetypal energy you're working with throughout the day and keep your senses peeled to messages relating to the card.

Not only will this way of working with the cards help your personal/spiritual development, but you'll find that you bond with the cards on such a deep psychic level that eventually are able to produce brilliant intuitive readings for yourself and others.

Bright blessings,
Lisa

http://tarothealingbylisa.blogspot.com/