Tarot Images
Craig Keene
"Tarot Images" is a series that presents the symbolism of Tarot cards through mental images. Try to guess which card the image represents before your read the answer. Use the feelings you get from the image to help you interpret cards in your readings. These images can help you get past the blocks which written interpretations sometimes create.
Try to hold the following image without adding or deleting anything. The goal is a total impression, without conscious examination. (For those who belong to the video generation and can't imagine anything without a sound track, hum or whistle the theme from "Kung Fu" while reading.)
It is just past afternoon, the hottest part of the day. You are standing in the shade of an old wooden garage that is part of a gas station. The pumps are dirty and stained with gas and oil. The station and garage look windblown and battered, the paint old and peeling. Old car parts surround the garage and lie scattered around the lot. The air is hot and still, the wind won't pick up until evening. There is an old road that passes the front of the station— just two lanes and no traffic. Around the station, as far as you can see are flat fields of grain.
You hear the sound of an engine in the distance long before the pick-up pulls into the station. The truck is old and weathered, more rust and primer than paint and solid metal. A man gets out of the truck to pump his own gas before you can do it for him. He wears two weeks of beard, khakis and a fedora. You talk to him— being social, your mother used to say— but every response you get is contrary. The weather's hot, you say. The Sahara is hot, he replies. You tell him that he's the first person on the road in two days. He answers that you, yourself, are the first. When you mention that not many folks pass through this godforsaken place, he tells you that he doesn't answer for God.
He finishes with the pump, hands you some money to cover the gas and climbs back into the old pick-up. You try one last time to be friendly—or maybe nosy—and ask him where he's going. For the first time his face loses the look of granite it has worn. He seems to look off into the distance—or into the future—as he tells you he's looking for some answers.
O.K. Image over, everyone wake up. I would like you to consciously evaluate how you perceived the image. Did you get the impression of a crazy old man? Did you think about Trump 9, the Hermit, or maybe Trump 12, the Hanged Man? Did you get thirsty or decide to wash your car? Did you realize that you need gas? (Did it give you gas?)
If you picked up on either of the trump cards, consider it a job well done. If you thought about any of the other cards, that's fine. You're at least in the ballpark if you thought about the tarot at all.
Many people believe that the only influence the tarot has in their lives is when they do a reading. This is simply not true. The tarot has
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Tarot Images
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always been considered a "teaching tool" in most western occult philosophies. Many occult societies require their members to have a basic familiarity with the tarot. Too often, members think that the tarot is only relevant to the "occult stuff." Many readers fall into this trap as well.
The tarot has two very important practical uses. The first is the ability to "predict the future." Such predictions are highly subjective and sometimes too vague to make any sense. These predictions often make sense only in hindsight. The second and, I feel, more important use is to provide the querant with a sympathetic sounding board for his subconscious.
These practical uses have, unfortunately, overshadowed the philosophy of each card. We have moved from the concept/intent/image of the cards to a set of exact (?) divinatory meanings which lack the flexibility of the original concept/intent/image. We have, in effect, two separate creations: the physical cards and the meanings for each. Not only do they fail to relate to each other, but often they fail to relate to real life.
I can't count how often I have heard someone say, "I know the meanings of the cards, but what do they mean in a reading?" Such people are missing the whole point of the tarot by focusing on its practical application. The cards themselves symbolize life and scenes of life. They are archetypes and as such they are too `pure' for us as humans. The interpretation must fit the situation. This is where the true reader finds his vocation. The image I created at the beginning is an example of an archetype of one of the cards. Nothing about the image is true or real. The feeling it evokes, however, we may use as we see fit, to interpret or not.
Each card will, or should, evoke a distinct feeling—a card that evokes nothing is blank. Search around you everyday for the analogs to these feelings. When something happens, try to discover which card evokes the same feeling in you. Do the same for the people you meet. Is this person a Knight of Pentacles, a King of Cups or just causing a little Five of Swords? In this way you can assimilate the symbology of the tarot into your life and make it a vital tool. Instead of interpreting the meanings of the cards, you will instead interpret the meanings of your feelings. This will give you a much more useful reading, but it will also make the tarot much more meaningful in your life.
Regnabo, Regno, Regnavi, Sum sine regno | 
