The entire universe is a great theater of mirrors, a set of hieroglyphics to decipher; everything is a sign, everything harbors and manifests mystery.
Antoine Faivre and Jacob Needleman. Modern Esoteric Spirituality (SCM, 1992)
Think of the universe as the most complete and still expanding book of knowledge that exists, the largest Tarot pack. It is living knowledge. Pagans, neo-pagans, shamans the world over, and ceremonial magicians acknowledge the unifying spirit within and behind all things. We seek to enhance our abilities to perceive as well as communicate and cooperate with Spirit in all its myriad forms.
My African-Caribbean culture recognizes and respects the spirit world. Besides my own private exploration, I have celebrated in neo-pagan and women's spirituality circles where energies of nature and of divine beings were raised. While a member of a Spiritualist church, I served as a “message-bearer”--a kind of medium or channel bringing messages from spirit sources to other members at community services. These consisted of symbolic or literal images, words, feelings or simply intuitive knowings that added up to an answer to their questions.
I don't think of channeling as special or sensational: We are all channeling all the time. Some of us naturally draw from the energy and information that comes in as we go about our roles as healers, teachers, visual artists, writers, singers or leaders. Tarot can offer a means to consciously and productively connect with spiritual forces.
Explore Tarot’s Major Arcana archetypes and its Minor Arcana imagery. Experiment by asking a question then randomly drawing a card to see which spirit wants to offer an answer. Meditate on the card. As an alternative, you can choose a specific card to call the type of spiritual being you'd like to encounter. Sit with your journal and write a letter or imagine--powerful word!--an interview and dialogue with this spirit. Display your card on an altar devoted to spirit contact. And remember that respect for Spirit and fun can go together.
Major Arcana -- types and/or functions of spiritual beings
Fool: a spirit of one who will soon pass over or who has recently passed; spirit of one who will soon take physical form
Magician: an angel or master of the magickal, transformational arts
High Priestess: a guardian of mysteries; keeper of the Akashic Records
Empress: a maternal goddess; a sensual goddess; an angel or master of the laws of nature and creativity
Emperor: an angel or master of the laws of manifestation
Hierophant: a shamanic teacher spirit; a guide to and through other worlds
Lovers: a gatekeeper spirit
Chariot: an angel or master of higher discipline and learning
Justice: an angel or master of cosmic law
Hermit: a Wise One; a teacher spirit; seeker who assists in one's search
Wheel of Fortune: an angel or master of fate who understands cosmic and planetary cycles
Strength: an angel or master of physical power; warrior spirits; protective spirits; the Kundalini force
Hanged Man: an initiatory guide; a shamanic spirit
Death: an angel or master of change and transition; a master of breakdown and renewal, radical transformation; Lord of the Underworld
Temperance: an angel or master of healing
Devil: a fearsome spirit who, beneath its mask, is actually a shamanic ally
Tower: an angel or master of divine intervention
Star: an angel or master of psychic communication, healing, peace and hope
Moon: an angel or master of the dream world and visions; a master of fate who understands human cycles; a master of atmosphere and mood
Sun: an angel or master of joy, generosity and success
Judgement: an angel or master of enlightenment, integration and rebirth
World: an angel or master of wholeness and splendor
Minor Arcana -- the elements in spirit and matter
Kings: Auric energies of air, fire, water or earth extending around the physical; also higher, spiritual expression of the energies in the physical environment
Queens: Higher, spiritual energies of air, fire, water or earth within the body
Knight: One's conscious, active, physical self; also, active, mundane manifestation of air, fire, water or earth in the physical environment
Page: One's subconscious and instinctual self; also, mundane expression of the element within the human body (e.g., blood, lymph, water in cells)
Aces: Purest essence of the elements of air, fire, water or earth (see also below)
Numbered Cards: Intensity of the elements, from extremely refined and ethereal (Aces) to densely physical (Tens)
Do you have specific cards that indicate when spirits are near? (In my readings, it's the Six of Cups.) Please comment below!
(c)1998, 1999, 2007 Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Ah! Interesting question. I hadn't thought of it in terms of "when the spirits are near," but I do have a few cards that have shown up in that capacity on a regular basis (both in readings for others when I was still doing them, and for myself):
Eight of Pentacles: has indicated ancestors (and past lives)
Magician, High Priestess, Hierophant: has indicated ancestors or other spirits (especially V)
However, any card can (and has) become a channel -- or doorway as I tend to think of it -- to otherworldly, other realm spirits. I just sort of feel the "story" knocking on my inner door :-D. And as the story comes out, it becomes clear who it is from or who is telling it.
There are some cards that have become identified for me with specific departed souls and certain Deities (e.g. II with a dear woman friend; and V with Ganesh). But not always in that capacity; that "knocking" feeling will let me know when the card is acting as a spirit channel.
Dreams act this way, too. And only that "knocking" (i.e. listen up further! feeling) helps me distinguish between a channeling image, and some other sort of information or experience being offered by the dream. That is, whether that dream image of my deceased stepmother is metaphoric, or a message directly from her. Though, of course, as with all symbols, both those things can be true. :-) But "listening up further" helps me not to miss out on the channeling level to a dream image.
Thanks for this info, Eva! And for the opportunity to think more in-depth about this issue. I'll be more aware of the possibilities now than ever.
Posted by: Roswila (a/k/a Patricia) | January 31, 2007 at 03:06 PM
You're welcome, Patricia! And thanks for your comment. You wrote:
"However, any card can (and has) become a channel -- or doorway as I tend to think of it -- to otherworldly, other realm spirits. I just sort of feel the "story" knocking on my inner door :-D. And as the story comes out, it becomes clear who it is from or who is telling it."
Indeed! And that's beautiful. It's hard to explain, but there are those moments when you just feel that someone special is "there" for the querent, or for yourself. It lends a fuller feeling to everything and often an urgency to the message.
Posted by: Eva Yaa Asantewaa | January 31, 2007 at 07:24 PM