I experienced a breakthrough regarding tarot when I realized that all the Major Arcana cards are operating somewhere within me at all times. I discovered this from doing a variety of twenty-two card spreads that show where each energy or archetype is operating at the moment. Of course some cards are emphasized or highlighted around particular issues. These are the ones that show up in smaller spreads saying: “Look at me. I’m what’s most important right now regarding your question.” It’s kind of like they’re doing a jig or vibrating more than the others, and thrusting themselves to the front to get your attention. Meanwhile, the others are in the background, quietly doing their own thing or maintaining the status quo.
Sometimes it’s worth seeing the whole picture to understand how each energy or archetype plays its role in relation to the others. There are several ways to do this.
Detailing a Job, Profession, Task or Field of Endeavor
There’s a truly enlightening process almost all serious tarotists discover at some point, though it’s rarely suggested as an exercise that anyone can do. Take any field of endeavor, say your job, for instance. Go through the Major Arcana one-by-one and identify where that energy functions in that particular profession.
For example, how do you, as a cook, act as the Magician? How is a carpenter a High Priestess? When does an accountant exhibit Empress qualities? When a teacher acts as the Star does he or she, perhaps, find practical exercises that demonstrate guiding, but abstract, principles? Or, perhaps, does a mother-as-Star inspire her children with ideals and the hope that they can live according to those ideals? There’s no single right or wrong answer—just what you perceive at the moment.
Give yourself only one minute to write down an example for each card. Skip over the cards for which no answer comes immediately. Then go back and write something for the cards you skipped, leaving the hardest for last. The whole exercise should take no more than 20 to 30 minutes. When completed you should have much more respect and understanding of the dynamics and potential of your work. The card for which it was most difficult to find an example may provide a breakthrough in understanding or help you view everything from a different perspective.
Alternatively, you can list something like twenty-two things you can do to promote yourself as a tarot reader. Or the twenty-two ingredients you need to consider in a project you are contemplating. What does each card suggest?
By the way, Dan Pelletier does a great job of detailing the Major Arcana in Chapter 23 of his audio book The Process where he describes a 22-step map for recovery, change or achieving your dreams and goals (expanding beyond AA’s Twelve Step Program).
22 Card Major Arcana Spreads
Now that you have a sense of how each card can act, let’s see where they are acting in your life right now.
I suggest using a favorite spread that focuses on your whole self—preferably one with at least seven cards. Double or triple the cards in some or all positions so that all 22 cards of the Major Arcana can be used. Here’s a couple of examples:
The 22-Card Celtic Cross Spread
- One card each for Positions 1 and 2 (the crossing cards). This is your heart issue.
- Three cards each for Positions 3, 4, 5 and 6, such that the first card of the three is strongest, while the other two cards modify it.
- A pair of cards each for Positions 7, 8, 9 and 10. The meanings of these two cards are to be integrated.
The 22-Card Tree of Life Spread
- Lay out two cards for each of the ten Sephiroth and the eleventh, Da’ath position.
Note: If you use the Paths as positions, rather than the Sephiroth, then you can draw one card for each Path.
The 22-Card Horoscope Spread
- One card each for the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th houses (the cardinal angles).
- A pair each for the other eight houses. The pair in Fixed/Succedent Houses (2, 5, 8, 11) tend to bolster each other for good or ill. The pair in Mutable/Cadent Houses (3, 6, 9, 12) tend to waffle or present divergent perspectives.
- Read each position according to the meanings of the twelve Houses of an astrological chart.
- A pair in the center gives overall advice and direction regarding what is going on in the whole.
Reading the Spreads
The spreads may seem a little overwhelming at first. One way to handle this is to look first at what individual cards and energies are doing. Find the Sun: where is your greatest joy right now? Where do you need to let go of something—Death? Where do you need to wake up and make a judgment call—Judgment? What is asking you to make a fair and just decision—Justice? Where do you need or have the greatest Strength? If you are concerned about a relationship then where are the cards that most strongly suggest you and the other in your interactions? The cards paired with these will modify them or tell you what else is involved. You might also pay special attention to your Lifetime and Year Cards (based on your birthday). And, if you did the first exercise, you’ll probably easily recognize the role each card is playing.
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November 18, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Rachel
There are also the Alternative Major Arcanas, where you first develop a structural way to lay out the Major Arcana, such as the Fool then 3 rows of seven. Another might be two rows of eleven each. Or, Fool, 2 rows of ten, then World. Once you have your structure, mix the 22 cards and lay them out in the same structure but now in the order in which they fall after the shuffle. so, instead of “the Fool’s Journey” you might end up with “the High Priestess’s Secrets,” or “the Devil’s Illusions.” Careful–this can be very addictive!
November 18, 2008 at 8:41 pm
mkg
Rachel –
Oh, joy—you stopped by. Thanks for mentioning the Alternative Major Arcanas, which are a wonderful way to engage in active meditations on the cards.
You can also compare the randomly generated card with the card that archetypally fills that spot in the structure.
I lay out the 3×7 structure with, say, the Marseille deck, keeping the cards in their usual numerical order. These cards are my position meanings. Then I shuffle a second Major Arcana like the Rider-Waite, or Thoth or Quantum and deal my randomly shuffled cards on top for a personal reading.
As you say, this can be very addicting, either for generating a new Major Arcana dynamic, like the story of the Devil’s Illusions, as you mentioned, or for viewing a personal dynamic. What happens when the Emperor lands on the Empress position or the High Priestess is in the place of the Devil, etc.?
I give another way to play with the 3×7 tarot pattern in my post called the “Major Arcana Soul Mirror.”
November 19, 2008 at 2:04 am
Anna
Sometimes it is scary how things just seem to fit together! I have for some time now been contemplating the idea about how I could use Majors only in good readings. And here you come with some excellent excersises! Thank you!
You present this as a personal work. But would you recommend this to be done for others too, such as maybe clients? And if so, should it be done with or without a phrased question?
BB
/Anna
November 19, 2008 at 8:34 am
mkg
Anna –
It’s up to you whether you do this with clients. As for using it to answer a specific question – it’s certainly possible. It would probably work best with a limited set of meanings for each card. The Major Arcana carry such a wealth of allusions that a 22-card reading could easily become very complex if you start delving into all their symbolism. Traditionally, the Major Arcana by themselves are used for more spiritual questions precisely because they don’t always yield the concrete details that querents want. Still, it depends on your own way with cards and style of reading. Try it with a willing subject and let us know how it works for you.
November 20, 2008 at 9:08 am
jameswells
A fun and enlightening process, Mary! I did something similar when I asked each Major card, “What does my least evolved Fool self look like?”, What does my most evolved Fool self look like?” etc. through the whole set of Majors. Then I asked, “What might the journey from my least to most evolved Fool (or Magician, or Priestess, etc.) self look like?” and responded to it. Quite a journey, and it takes a while.
November 24, 2008 at 12:32 am
Ferol Humphrey
I am paying attention……..this is very interesting……big minds……stretching…..
November 24, 2008 at 1:23 am
Ferol Humphrey
I like to take the majors and pull out the Fool, and then shuffle, pulling out one major, and shuffle, pulling out another. The lower and higher result cards are a spectrum, the poles where my Fool is least resonant, having covered that action and moved on, and on the approach to the furthest resonant forward movement. So if I get Sun and Judgment, as I did tonight, I note that, and lay the rest of the majors out in order in a circle. Rotating clockwise as yinward, I would be moving toward Sun now as the most distant resonance I can feel on approach, and Judgment as the most distant resonance I feel on withdrawal. And vice versa if I am plotting yangward, counterclockwise. This is a wierd example, as there is no easy and obvious midpoint between them as adjacent cards, but that is what came up. I also like to consider the yinward and yangward as hot and cold on the lightning path of the tree of life, plotting a card in the actual midpoint between the two extremes if there is one, and then laying the lightning path. Or, what is my current intensity? Where do I tend to stay parked in my response patterns? Say Geburah. Plotting upward and downward from my current intensity, or hot/cold across the middle, depending upon the number of cards between the two poles as they came up in my two shuffles. This has been productive, as it can be interpreted from stressful, less stressful, or attractive, less attractive, peaceful/non-peaceful. Say I plot my midnpoint as Tiphareth, that changes things. I am still messing with it, and clearly there are millions of ways to redefine any consideration, but I thought I’d share. My Qabalah friends have a cow when I talk like this, as if I could do such things without regard for tradition, just because I want to.
November 24, 2008 at 1:26 am
Ferol Humphrey
Imagine what happens when you use the four aces and shuffle to see which one you need to jump the energy off the midpoint, especially if one is perceived as resistant or stuck.
November 26, 2008 at 6:11 am
Kristine Gazel
Hello again, Mary and others
Thank you all for the ideas.
Especially I like that about detailing a job or a situation or a task with the Major Arcana energies.
Kristine