Workbook Exercises
Lesson Five
Workbook
Open a File on Your Computer where you will record your thoughts and ideas triggered by the exercises in your course and the ideas suggested below. This will be the best book you’ll ever own on the Tarot!
the rituals and worshipping the idols that have been created by others.
TAROT STORYTELLING
Pick your favourite Major Arcana card and copy it onto a paper or a card. Draw it exactly the way it appears and use coloured paints, crayons or markers to colour it. Now imagine doing all 78 cards!
PERSONALITY, SOUL AND YEAR CARDS
A popular exercise originated by Angeles Arrien, author of The Tarot Handbook that allows you to find cards that reveal your personality and soul. You can also use it to find the Major Arcana card for any year.
Write down your date of birth in numbers and do it in three lines, then add these numbers together vertically and their sum add together horizontally,
How will you be learning your soul’s lessons over the next coming year? (Hint: Analyze the stage of development you will be entering over the next year as demonstrated by your year card and where does this fit in your Soul’s journey?)
DREAMWORK & THE TAROT
Record your dreams in the morning thereby inviting your unconscious mind to participate with your waking consciousness in learning the Tarot. Also record what you remember of the card’s meanings that you studied the previous day. Research has shown that this memorizing technique is very effective.
TAROT IMAGE DICTIONARY
Begin a section in your hard copy Workbook titled, “Tarot Images” and collect images from magazines, newspapers, flyers, and photographs that remind you of a Tarot Card. Note the connections you made between these personally collected images and the Tarot.
DEVELOPING PSYCHIC ABILITY
- Meditation. Use your cards to focus your mind and meditate upon different cards for a period of 10 minutes. This will assist you in learning your cards and also enhance your connection to this divination tool.
- Record your dreams on a regular basis. Dreams are often prophetic and the more you connect with your dreaming mind the stronger your psychic power will become.
- Practice connecting with loved ones from a distance.
- Place your cards face down in front of you and practice “intuiting” what card is on top and at the bottom of the deck.
- Write down any “prophetic” flashes of insight you experience. Record them in your journals with the date.
SHADOW WORK
In your workbook explore the shadow aspects of the Court cards by relating a cards’ shadow to another Court card. For example, how might the Queen of Cups represent the shadowy aspect of the Queen of Swords? Or the Page (Princess) of Wands to the Page (Princess) of Pentacles (Disks)? Do you notice how by combining the aspects of both these cards together would represent a more whole character? What happens when you combine all the aspects of the four Queens together? Some Taroists have referred to this result as the “Queen of Spirit” which represents a new, fully evolved character.
Journal an exploration of 3 of your most positive qualities. Reflect on how your perceived positive qualities can be experienced by others as disagreeable.
Pull one Tarot card from your deck randomly and meditate on its message to you regarding your newly explored “shadow” qualities.
ANIMUS/ANIMA WORK
How does the Magician and High Priestess, the Empress and Emperor reflect similar energies but manifest them in opposite ways?
Do some reflecting on your own contrasexual nature. What is your animus/anima like?
To help identify your opposite inner sex,
- reflect back to dreams which pointed to an opposite or same sex character you were powerfully and perhaps surprisingly attracted to in your dream, (you may be sexually attracted to a same sex character in your dream who manifests an opposite sex characteristic)
- reflect on opposite or same sex characters in the Tarot that you find yourself drawn to,
- reflect on people of the opposite or same sex that you were drawn towards.
COURT CARD RECOGNITION
Relate a person you know to a particular Court card, keeping in mind that no one is really a Court card! The Court cards are an archetype, which means they are universal and much larger, and extreme than ordinary folk. But we all know people who fit the profile of one or other of the Court cards to some degree. You’ll discover that this exercise is helpful in terms of learning the varying attributes of the Court cards.
List more occupations that would fit with each Suit family. Why wouldn’t you find a Sword in the counseling profession?
Write up a chart of the Court Card element correspondences, and work out what aspects of nature they are related to. For example, what exactly is the watery part of air (Queen of Swords)? The airy part of water (Prince or Knight of Cups)? These are subtle differences, and the exercise can help you focus on the specific attributes the court cards personify.
MEDITATION
The themes, images and symbols of the Tarot serve beautifully as a meditation tool. The Tarot may act as a guide to discovering more about your inner self. Visualized meditations tap into the unconscious mind and create spontaneous mental images. The response that we have to these images can be revealing and may bring to light hidden aspects of our personalities. When we connect with this new awareness, it can act as a spur for our future growth and development and lead us to a deeper and more meaningful sense of who we are, and what is unfolding in our lives presently.
Meditation works to connect us to the pictures on the cards in a direct way and serves to develop our intuition. In order to follow this guided meditation you’re advised to read the instructions into a tape recorder, and when you’re ready to do this meditation exercise, follow your recorded instructions. Or you can ask a friend to read this guided meditation out loud while you relax and immerse yourself in the process.
Several years ago I participated in a meditation class at our local community centre taught by an older, seasoned, and very wise fellow originally from India. The teacher would suggest a methodology which we would practice as a group together during class, and then try at home on our own the following week. I already had explored various meditation methodologies laid down in Yoga practice, and of course many years of utilizing the Tarot for meditation. I discovered during this mediation class where we explored several ways of doing meditation that nothing I learned in this class compared to the assistance, and guidance offered by the Tarot particularly in a meditation exercise involving visualization, imagination and insight. The following exercise is one I practice often and recommend to my students. Many have found this exercise especially helpful in learning the meaning of the cards!
To begin, enter a deep state of relaxation drawing upon systems you have learned in the past to enter a deeply relaxed state. Step outside the usual movement of your life and sit comfortably and straight so that you will not have to shift around. Place the card you wish to explore close by. In this state of deep relaxation, let thoughts and plans and problems begin to slide away and breathe deeply.
With eyes closed, staying with your breath, reach out for a card. Hold it in both hands and feel its energy. Open your eyes and look at your card as if seeing it for the first time. Take in all the details, colour, and characters.
Close your eyes again and visualize the card in front of you.
Open your eyes and look again. What details did you miss?
Now close your eyes again and set down the card. Once more, see it before you. Let the picture become bigger, the size of a large book, then a window, then a doorway. Imagine the card as a doorway to a living world.
Imagine yourself standing before that doorway, then stepping through it and entering that world. Look around in that world, feel the ground, the breezes, smell the air, hear any noises of birds or people or wind.
As you look around, you see the characters from the original picture. They are active now and you watch them move and speak. You feel drawn to these characters and as you approach them one animal, object or character draws you still closer. You feel a special bond with this figure, this ally.
This powerful ally asks you to come closer and as you approach this figure it offers you a special gift. You accept this gift and you give your ally a gift in return.
You realize it’s time to go and you say goodbye to your ally and let yourself step back. You look behind and see the doorway behind you.
You step backward through it so that the scene once more lies on the other side. In reverse of earlier, the doorway shrinks back to the size of a window, a large book and returning once again to the original size of the card.
Upon completing this meditation, sit quietly a moment, take a deep breath, and when you release that breath, open your eyes.
Write and draw what you experienced throughout this mediation. Especially note of the following details,
- What gifts did you receive from your ally? What gifts did you offer your ally in return?
- What words were exchanged between you and your ally?
- What other information did you take in through your five physical senses? For example, did you smell or taste anything? Did you feel a breeze on your skin, or the heat of the sun, or cold of the night? What else could you hear besides the words of your ally?
- What feelings were evoked in you throughout the meditation experience?
- What insights did you have about your present situation, or how you got to this place in your life?
INITIATION RITUAL FOR THE NEW READER
This personal ritual allows us to raise our energy and our will to the point where our stated intentions take on the power to change. In ritual, we create a safe space in which to let go of conventions and through this we find new power and recognize our strengths. Ritual connects us to our unconscious because it will hear and see the ritual form and learn from it. In ritual we align our simple human selves with everything that is beyond us.
Perform the following ritual to mark your initiation into the role of Tarot Reader.
To begin, open a sacred space, which is basically a place and time that stands apart from ordinary life. Perform a ritual of clearing the sacred space of possible negative energy, perhaps by saying a prayer or chanting an incantation that has special meaning for you.
Once you have established a sacred space, set out the four Aces to signify the four directions, and their elements. Place your four Aces face-up on the floor, with you in the centre of the square. The reason you will use the four Aces is because they signify beginnings, gifts and the power of creation.
Focus on the single issue of willing yourself into the role of Tarot Reader.
Wands/Fire goes in the south; Cups/Water goes in the west, Swords/Air in the east, Pentacles/Earth in the north. As you set them out you call in the spirit of the direction and element to aid your ritual.
With the cards set out, call on spirit allies to help you bring the vision of you as a Tarot reader into the world. The Tarot can help you identify your spirit allies; it might help you to envision your allies represented by the archetypes from the Major Arcana, or the Court Cards. Or you might have already identified your spirit allies prior to studying the Tarot; they might have visited you in your dreams, or come to you in visions during your earlier years. They might have already come to you as animal totems.
Years ago, just prior to a move I had decided to make across the continent, I had recurring appearances of the bear in my life. The bear came to me in a dream, then in a tea box, and then on a pair of earrings my mother bought and mailed to me from a completely different part of the world. I knew the appearance of bear was beyond coincidence! The bear was coming to me to assist me in making a painful transition. The bear represents the archetypal Mother, gently urging her young towards independence while fiercely protecting them while they are still vulnerable. Now I have several bears hanging and sitting around my home!
Use magical tools and gestures (for example the Magician with her wand raised to channel energy into reality) to help seal the ritual. Sealing your ritual planks a psychic boundary around your psychic/physical process. It sets and establishes your ritual in a time and space, securing its place in the universe, determining your intention to move forward on your Tarot journey.
Thank and release whatever beings have helped you, then close your sacred space and return the cards to the deck.
WHY I WANT TO BECOME A TAROT READER
Go to your workbook and journal your emotional/spiritual/psychological reasons for becoming a Tarot Reader. Be honest with yourself because this process will help you to identify your future direction. Respond to the bulleted reasons listed above as if they were questions. For example, “Do I want to be a Tarot reader to educate others about the value of the Tarot as a tool for spiritual growth and awareness?”, or “Do I want to make a reputation for myself, have increased popularity, and gain well-deserved attention?”
Do a 3 Card Reading for yourself asking the oracle, “What are the reasons I want to become a Tarot reader?”
Place the first card directly in front of you. This card reveals Your Present Motivations for Becoming a Tarot Reader.
Place the second card on the left hand side of card 1. This card reveals Your Past Motivations for Becoming a Tarot Reader,
Place the third card on the right hand side of card 1. This card reveals Your Future Motivations For Reading the Tarot for Others.
Note the differences the oracle may reveal concerning any changes in your motivations from past to present and into the future. Journal the insights you gained from doing this reading for yourself, and what you learned about your own motivations for becoming a reader. Make a special note of any changes to your motivations the oracle has highlighted for you.
You may or may not have already begun reading the Tarot for others, in either case, below I’ve outlined tasks to complete before launching your Tarot apprenticeship,
- Go to an established Professional Tarot Reader and tape the reading.
- Tape yourself doing a reading for yourself into a recording device, then listen to the tape as if you were the client listening to her taped reading.
Listen to your taped readings (the taped Professional Reader, and the tape of yourself doing a reading for yourself), and note the following attributes,
- How well does the reader establish a relationship/rapport with the client?
- What attributes of the reader are what you would classify as professional or unprofessional?
- Would you say the reader acted in an ethical manner?
- Would you go back to see this reader again? Why or why not?
- Would you recommend this reader to others? To whom and why?
- Why do you think this reader reads the Tarot?
Tell 3 people you are studying the Tarot and ask for volunteers to complete your practicum component of the course to graduate. You may use your text. Tape all three readings and after listening to your readings on tape critique yourself in writing. Remember to include what you did exceptionally well!
CRITIQUING ONLINE FREE READINGS
Find 3 sites offering free readings and have a reading done at each asking the same question at all of them. Note the cards the computer drew in your reading and how those cards were interpreted.
- Were the interpretations the same as you would have interpreted the cards based upon your understanding of the meanings of those cards?
- What were the differences and similarities between the readings? Which one was the best, and the worst? Why?
- Do a 4th reading for yourself.
RESEARCH TAROT CERTIFYING ORGANIZATIONS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Research sites that certify readers around the world. What are the differences and similarities in criteria to qualify for certification?
SACRED OBJECTS
What are your notions of the sacred? How will this be symbolized/represented in your readings?
TRUE TAROT TALES
Write up a Tarot Reading that profoundly affected you and the one you were doing a reading for.
DECK COMPARISON
Go to Tarot sites on the Internet that have full colour pictures of Tarot decks. Compare and contrast 3 decks you may want to now purchase.
FAMOUS TAROTIST INTERVIEW
Research and find a web site and/or email address of one of the authors mentioned in your Resource List. Email this Tarotist and ask them if they would be willing to participate in a brief interview as a part of your Tarot study. Ask this Tarotist 3 of your most burning questions regarding becoming a professional Tarot reader. Keep your query short, to the point, and remember to thank your author very kindly for taking the time from their busy schedule to answer your questions!
PRETENDING YOU ARE A TAROT CARD
Pick a card you wish to pretend to be while your partner interviews you for a media presentation. Carry on the interview until your interviewer guesses what card you are!
WRITE YOUR CODE OF ETHICS
DECK REVIEWS
Search the internet for reviews of your favourite tarot decks – what do you agree with? What would you emphasize that the reviewer failed to mention?
Lesson Five