Rush over right now and listen to Anne Hill and me discuss tarot and dreams on Dream Talk Radio. Anne writes for the Huffington Post, leads dream workshops and is the author of What To Do When Dreams Go Bad: A Practical Guide to Nightmares (a wonderful book!).
Several people have been blogging about their experiences as they go through my book 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card. It’s a great way to share your insights and get feedback from others. Personally, I was delighted by the story resulting from Step 4 as recounted by “Tarot Dude” (Roger Hyttinen) on his blog—read it here. Using The Gaian Tarot‘s Seeker [Fool] card, Roger began with a fantasy tale about a young woman named Sally who went to work every day in a cubicle. But, in the second part of the exercise, when it came time to retell the story in the first person/present tense, the story became very personal:
My name is Roger and I go to work every day to a cubicle. Oh, I had planned on going to college, but things just didn’t work out the way I had anticipated. A bad breakup and the lack of my parents’ ability to provide any financial assistance forced me to take an office job performing menial tasks. “It’s only for awhile, it’s only temporary,” I tell myself.
But my heart aches. I feel out of sorts with the rhythm of life. I have the strongest feeling that I am not doing what I was put on earth to do. I really can’t explain it – but everything just feels wrong about my life. . . .
The story continues with the appearance of a little red fox who tells him about dangers to the world and eventually asks if Roger will accept going on a journey:
“Journey? What journey? I just can’t pick up and leave. I’ll have to pack. I’ll have to tell my family that I’ll be leaving. So many things to do.”
“Impossible,” says the fox. “Time is of the essence.” He nods toward a tree. “Behind that tree is a small blue bag that contains all you will need. Mama Gaia will provide the rest. You need to have faith that all will work out. You need to know that you are following your destiny – and your destiny, my little man, is to save the world.” The fox pauses. There is sadness in his eyes. “Please, do not let fear prevent you from taking this journey. For if you do not accompany me right now, then all is lost.”
I stare at him but say nothing. I wring my hands together and look off into the distance, trying to decide what to do.
“So,” says the fox. “Do you accept?”
I take a deep breath and nod. “I accept.”
“Well then, let us not tarry. Our journey begins now.”
When you realize it really is about you, such a story can have a deeply transformative effect (I encourage you to read the whole thing). Since Roger really did go to college, the first part of the story is a metaphor asking, basically, what everyday, menial tasks are currently constraining him from addressing the “big” (college-level) questions and issues in life?
Check out Roger’s other posts at Tarot Dude.
Let me know if you are blogging about 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card and I’ll add your link to this post. Also, let me know if you’ve written a review of my book (laudatory or critical) and I’ll also link to it.
Blogging 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card
- Tarot Dude
- Zorian’s Tarot Quest – the posts for each Step are well organized in their own section of the blog.
- Aeclectic Tarot Forum’s Study Group for 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card (not actually a blog)
Reviews
Music Video with RWS deck. Anyone care to explain how the reading relates to the storyline? (Thanks to John McBride.)
Marcus Katz’s book, Tarosophy: Tarot to Engage Life, Not Escape It is available for pre-order. “Tarosophy encapsulates 
the wisdom of tarot as a living, divine art and science; a dynamic interface between awareness and appearance, and a system to observe, tie and untie the ‘secret knots’ that bind the world.” Marcus Katz is the Director of Tarot Professionals and the Far Away Center. He has studied and taught tarot for 30 years and has delivered more than 10,000 face-to-face readings. Marcus graduated from the University of Exeter as the first student to obtain a Master of Arts degree in Western Esotericism and is continuing on with doctoral studies in the field. [Book cover by Ciro Marchetti.]
Here’s the blurb I wrote upon reading the manuscript:
“From the first steps in reading tarot through metaphysical correspondences and on to professional marketing, this book has it all! Marcus Katz’s Tarosophy is a work of intelligence and depth, featuring tons of tarot tips and exercises that will help you access the wisdom of the cards in a manner that is playful and practical. Highly recommended.”
This music video features the Thoth Tarot laid out on a lazy susan (good idea!) at 2:45.
Some people say there’s a lot of tarot symbolism in Lady Gaga’s music videos (see also here and here). Send me stills that clearly were intended to depict specific tarot cards, and I’ll post them. For instance, here’s The Moon card from “Poker Face”—made all the more explicit by the images juxtaposed with each other in the video. To me, it represents the femme fatale, at her most instinctive, climbing up out of the pool of the archetypal collective unconscious. 
A later image with just one dog could be Strength. At the end of the video we see The Sun card (sunrise after a night playing strip poker), complete with two children frolicking in front of a wall. It represents the success of the sexual seduction gambit that is spelled out in the lyrics, but also a kind of return to innocence (white clothes and gloves instead of the black).
Wow! This is Kreative Key Productions‘ powerful contribution to the Multi-dimensional New Music Initiative, the Twelve Days Project, in which they created a video to go with The Dreamscapes Project [band’s name] song, “Titanic.” The video director, Kristin Pavelski, explained their use of tarot:
“The tarot cards were brought into the piece to portray this continuing repetitious behavior the characters go through. Tarot, being a divination tool, easily reflects events in one’s life, at any given time. This piece starts with The Lovers card, as both characters are introduced. The next card played is the 8 of Cups which signifies a man leaving behind success . . .”
Read more about the tarot imagery in the video and the creative project here. Name the tarot deck featured in this video.
The images are from Joanna Powell-Colbert’s self-published Gaian Tarot Deck, and the song is written and sung her husband, Craig Olson – find out about them here.
Brief views of the RWS deck near the beginning.
I thought I had this posted, but it seems not. All the “Tarot Music Videos” now have their own category—view them all by clicking on the category above or to the left.
Mary K. Greer has made tarot her life work. Check here for reports of goings-on in the world of tarot and cartomancy, articles on the history and practice of tarot, and materials on other cartomancy decks. Sorry, I no longer write reviews. Contact me
Mary K. Greer's Tarot Blog 
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