NMR ISSUE 9

An Introduction to Modern Practical Alchemy
Astrological Forecast 9
Birth and Education of a Magician
Calling up the Spirits of Our Ancestors
Editorial
Electric Almanac
Harvest Equinox Sunstead
Obsidian
Protection from the Intoxicated
Raven, Bear and Grizzly Bear
Tarot Images
The Oldest Magick
The Spirit's Dance
The Story of Two Bridges
The Time of Spirits Samhain
The Ugly Witch Figures
Witchcraft: Yesterday and Today

Articles
Authors
Rituals
Book Reviews
NMR Issues
NMR Covers

Tarot Images

Craig Keene

Over a year ago I wrote the last Tarot Image for Scot and the Rose and Quill. Since that time the Rose and Quill has undergone a few changes, ending up as New Moon Rising. It is also not so surprising that I, too, have undergone a couple of changes—though I never had to change my name. During that time many things conspired to keep me from continuing the "Images" for the magazine. Chief of these, honesty forces me to admit, was lack of interest—though lack of time was no small factor. Not long ago someone mentioned that they remembered reading the Images and had liked the idea. (The person seemed surprised to find out that I was the author. Sometimes I have to wonder if universities offer courses in creative sarcasm.) I had been under the impression that most, if not all, of my material went unread, if not unused—though they do make fine bird cage liners. That comment flattered and amazed me. It also went a long way toward justifying Scot's oft stated belief that people were actually reading this magazine. Well, not being one to miss a golden opportunity—by too much—I hastily realigned my priorities, broke out a deck of cards, and sat down in front of a computer for an afternoon. Those readers with precognitive talents have probably guessed that I'm leading up to continuing the "Images," at least until the dreaded Priority Change occurs. If anyone recognizes the above as a brazen bid for recognition then be assured your higher consciousness is functioning just fine, and you should probably inform the editor/commandant of your opinion of the New Moon Rising.

We are going to tackle a brand new image today. Since it's been a while since we've done this, I think it would be a good idea to go over some of the things that we want to accomplish. If you've already done one of these before and don't need any of my advice or just don't want to wait to get to the "meat" of the article, just drop down six paragraphs to the beginning of the image.

The Tarot is most commonly used as a device for divination. It is also common for readers to fix a standard interpretation for each card, even going so far as to provide catchwords or phrases for each one. This standardization of the cards is fine for beginning readers and even for those of us who use a "short hand" method of identification. Beginning readers often become overwhelmed with the complexity of interpretation for each card. Many abandon the cards altogether when they try to fit the "standards" into the chaos of a reading and nothing makes any sense.

The problem is that while the standard interpretations help the reader to remember the card, they also limit the understanding of the card. The value of symbolic representation is that it can express many ideas and variations of those ideas in a "flash" of intuition. The understanding of the card then comes complete with its own theme and limits. Subsequent understanding of the card builds upon the original understanding without destroying or altering the original. This Fundamental Understanding is ineffable feeling. We know the feeling, but we can't give it a name. About the best we can do is to describe something else that is pretty close. But that still doesn't really express what we want to say.

Now, I imagine some of you professional pragmatics saying; "You want me to work hard to learn something difficult to remember? And once I've gotten the idea I'll be unable to talk about what I've learned? Hey, make mine standard!" I can understand that attitude. But knowing the Tarot in that way would only be useful for a hard-core philosopher of the Old World. It's not really very practical for the rest of us in the metaphysical community and not worth a damn to those we read for—the ones who pay for our talents. Instead of stopping with just a Fundamental Understanding lets take it a little further and add one more complication.

Just as each of the cards has a concept that we cannot express, each of us has had experiences that we cannot express in a single word. These experiences are from the human condition and common to all of us. Everyone recognizes the typical "human drama" of love or anger or frustration. What we need to do is match our experiences to similar feelings that the cards evoke. In other words, make the Fundamental Understanding practical by relating it in terms of a real world situation—you know, like the soaps. In these "Tarot Images" I present an archetypical "image" which should—I hope—evoke a feeling and then find a "real" situation that is similar.

To begin, read the image slowly. Remember we're trying to evoke a feeling, so don't analyze. After you've read the image, think about what you felt or thought while reading the passage. Try to bring back any fuzzy memories, and see if they have an association with the image. Read the passage a second time and see what the subconscious tosses out at you. It is possible that nothing will occur to you when you read the passage or you'll find it completely unremarkable. That's fine, it just means that I'm not nearly as good at this as I thought—you don't need to tell Scot about that—or you just don't have an experience ready for the way I'm presenting the archetype. Play with the passage a little, change a few things and see if it helps. Most importantly, keep at it and don't get discouraged. To be at all successful you should probably do the exercise at least three or four times.

The following image is presented for your amusement and edification. Please take your shoes off and get comfortable our feature will begin shortly. Please remember to breathe deeply and slowly during the image. Don't be alarmed if the music you hear in your mind is the theme from The Twilight Zone. We would like to remind you that practicing a hermetic philosophy without an astral safety net is in violation of karmic code oNoi4got of the United Brotherhood and Sisterhood of Metaphysical Engineers (U.B.S.M.E.). Thank you for flying Air Tarot.

The day is warm, just this side of unpleasant. The breeze is nice enough, though just enough to keep you cool and to make this field of wheat you sit in a sea. You touch the rock you sit upon. It seems to soak up the heat of the day without any change; a trick you wish you could copy. The rock is an island in the sea of wheat, or perhaps the back of a huge whale of stone—a farmer's Moby Dick. Nobody wanted to get rid of the rock, or at least had enough interest to do so, and so it's been here for as long as you can remember. It's a good place to think and you've come here often, more often as the end of school approaches.

You'll graduate soon. That thought both thrills and terrifies you. Sometimes you'll just be walking along, like everything's normal and this thought will come from nowhere, Graduation, and you get a strange feeling in your stomach, like cold fish swimming around. It seems funny to you that the sun should be out and bright when that feeling happens. You wonder how everyone can stand around and laugh like there's nothing wrong. Then the feeling fades and you forget for a while, or you forget and the feeling fades. You never know which happens first. Nor do you really care, you just know when it hits and that's usually more than enough.

The rock is nice, it never changes. The field is always the same also, though the crop may be wheat or corn or alfalfa. It's always the sea and home for the stone, and for you. School is like that; solid. You never thought things would change. School is forever, right. Of course you knew in your head that "someday" you would finish, but you never really thought about it. Not like it could really happen. In school you knew where you were, you knew who was your friend and what you could get away with, the rules were clear; just like the rock.

Everybody wants something for (from) you. Dad wants you to go to a university or even a technical school. Mostly, though, he just wants you to be out on your own, he's certainly expressed that often enough. It's not that he doesn't want you around. He does. But dad graduated from "the school of life," as he says, and he doesn't respect anyone who hasn't "gotten out and made their own way in the world."

Mom really wants you to go to college. She talks about it almost everyday now. She helped you fill out the entrance applications and made sure they got into the mail. She says she wants you to go because she didn't. As for you, you think she'd be happier if she went instead; maybe you would be too.

Money is a problem, though not a big one. You have a college fund that you've helped contribute to over the years and your parents have made sure that they never touched the money even when the going was tough. Your councilor at school talked to you about grants and scholarships. It sounded a bit complicated but you're sure your mom can figure them out. No, money's not the real problem for you, it's what happens after you sign the papers and pay the money. You're not sure you want to go to school for another four years.

Dad's brother, the Major, wants you to join the army. He says it made him the man he is today. Today he's got three kids, too many debts and a divorce. Your friends want to take a year after school and tour around the states, go wherever the mood takes them. It goes without saying that they want you to go with them, it also goes without saying that if you go you'd better keep on going because dad wouldn't let you in the house again.

As exciting as traveling with your friends would be you know it's not the best for you, not since Debbie and you have been having a "relationship." That word does other things to your stomach, just saying it makes you feel like an adult. Debbie also just started using words like "our," "commitment," "marriage" and "kids." Those words do yet a third thing to your stomach—nothing you like. She seems to have your whole life planned out; wedding, job, kids, first house, old age. That's nice, you think, but not yet. You want to get a little older before you get old.

There's so much to think about. That's why the rock is nice, it's your island, something in short supply these days. You have to decide what you want soon. Every day brings the deadline closer and you have no answer for anyone, let alone yourself.

You watch the shadow of a cloud roll across the fields toward you. The future looks a lot like that shadow. When you were younger you used to play a game of chase with the rolling cloud shadows. They would pass over the "sea" and you would try to run from them, avoiding them by hiding or sometimes, with a small cloud, by running along the edge. It was fun for brief, frantic minutes until the shadow swallowed you. It seems you lost most of these games.

There are so many ways to go, from your rock, from here. You have to make a careful choice, that's what everyone agrees on, a careful choice for your future. But you don't know. You don't know what you want to do in the future or whether anything you choose will turn out to be a "good choice." That's the real thing that frightens you. What if you can't make it in a university? What if you take a local job and never get out? What if you and Debbie don't get along after a few years? What if you don't travel this year and pass up the biggest opportunity to get out of this town? All too often your mind is filled with disastrous results of your decisions. You just wish you could stay in school—on your rock—forever. You know you can't, however. Your deadline is approaching with the same implacability as your childhood clouds, and you'll need an answer for everyone—for yourself. That's what the rock is for, so you can see the clouds approaching and prepare for them. You'll have your answers before your rock covered in a sea of shadows. And when you tell everyone what you've decided, let them find their own rock. The future is your genie in a bottle and you don't want to let him out until you're sure you know what to wish for and what the wish will bring—at least as sure as you can be. Image over, everybody back to the magazine. Think about what happened, what the person was feeling. Try to find something similar to it in your own experience. Once you've done that, try to pick out a card which would reflect that experience. If you chose the suit of Cups, you're going in the right direction. If you've picked the seven of Cups, you're right on target. If you thought of Trump 10, the Wheel of Fortune, you're thinking along the right lines though a bit too big. The above presentation of the seven of Cups is not the only way to interpret it. As with all things symbolic, it would be a crime to set its absolute limits with words. If this interpretation doesn't suit you, feel free to explore another. The most important thing is to open your intuitive side, and the Tarot is a good way to do this. Regnabo, Regno, Regnavi, Sum sine regno.