Winter dawn: Mountain scripture

In winter before the sun truly rises, when sunlight strikes the slopes to the west but the sky is still pale, when the cold is so deep that snow squeaks underfoot, I walk to the ridge top.

Mercifully, there is little wind. I reach the grandmother pine tree, wisened and gnarled by her rugged life on top of a rocky ridge. Six hundred years she has stood here. She… yes, that’s my human thinking and yet that’s the feeling I get from this venerable being. The things she must have seen!

Pumpkin ridge and mount emily - image by arie farnam

I am thankful for the winter, for the cold. In these days of worsening fires and droughts, any cold or snow is to be valued. But this winter is mild. The cold has come only in a few intense blasts, like this one. The snow is scant and stale.

Each morning I still meditate, despite my daily life descending into a blur of chaos, conflict, grief and struggle with various bureaucracies. I still cling to that one bit of routine and stability. And the heart of that is gratitude.

I speak my thanks for my health, my body, my mind, my heart, my soul—even on days when I don’t feel so sure of any of that. I still give thanks.

I give thanks for my family, even when the grief and strain of their struggles has pushed me far beyond my breaking point. It’s a principle, but that thanks is sometimes hollow.

I give thanks for the abundance of my life, even though my existence which once spanned continents has contracted to the cramped confines of intractable restrictions and endless daily tasks. Still, my special chai tea, a piece of salmon and tomatoes from my garden still ripening on the windowsill halfway through winter make me conscious of blessings.

But that is nothing beside the thanks I give for this valley, the mountain, the ridge, the trees, the land and the open sky. Even on the worst days, when I can’t stop the tears falling all through my meditation, my heart sings in gratitude for the land and the sky. So many years I spent far away from this place, and I did value and care for the land there, but always this place was in my heart, even when I didn’t know it. And now, when times are hard beyond hard, my gratitude for the land and sky surpasses words.

I touch the prickly spines of pine needles. She gives me three small cones, hard and spiky, sharp in the cold. I pour out a stream of green gold tea, lit with the dawn, steam billowing from it. Drink and know you are honored, grandmother.

It is Imbolc time, the holiest part of the year for me because of my lady, Brigid. It is a quiet time without great community festivities but dear to my heart. Cold still binds the land like stone, but light is returning. The dawn rays are pale wheat, a promise of abundance and spring coming.

Maybe someday there will be space to write again. Maybe spring will come to my life. I still live in the depths of a barren and desolate time. Most days, I don’t think I will have health or years enough to start over when I’m finally free of this toil and sorrow.

But in rare moments, when I see a sunrise or a moon nearly full or the sky free and unbound, I say to myself that this winter must pass someday. Spring may not be the same as it was. Rains are scarce. The heat may come too early. But each season passes.

That is what the scripture of this mountain tells me.

Tarot basics: Setting up your reading space

This could be a post on setting up any kind of spiritual and contemplative space. That’s what Tarot is at its best—spiritual contemplation.

That doesn’t mean that your space has to be an altar with incense, candles and no other distractions,, although it might well be. People—like yours truly—whose monkey brains are always going a mile a minute throughout the day, multitasking and absorbing some sort of media a good deal of the time, might well need such a space to settle down enough to focus on the Tarot.

But if you can focus at your kitchen table or on your bed, so much the better. There are some spiritual practices, I don’t recommend doing on your bed. I wouldn’t encourage you to do readings dealing with ancestors or highly distressing topics there because, whether you believe in energy residue or not, just the memory of the reading on your bed might interfere with your sleep.

I do encourage you to clean and wash off you table before laying out your cards. There is nothing worse than sticky or dirty Tarot cards. They can be quickly ruined and the language of the deck becomes incomplete even if only one is missing or damaged. Once a card has been warped by water, it will never shuffle equally with other cards again.

Beyond that, the clutter on a table may well exert a distracting energy on your reading, resulting in an answer that is more vague than it needed to be.

So clear off and wash at least a section of your table or smooth out a part of your bed. I have always lit a candle when I do Tarot, but that is a matter of personal taste. The candle flame provides me with focus. I also generally lay out some tokens representing the four cardinal directions.

Image by Arie Farnam

That is because I call in the energies of the four directions and the elements they correspond to as aids for me in a reading. I will generally also call a deity, either my matron goddess or a goddess who deals specifically with divination, like the Morrigan or Hekate. But that is specific to my tradition. I do recommend that you call in whatever entities you work with spiritually before beginning a reading and have a token to represent them if that is part of your tradition.

I usually smudge with white sage because of its cleansing, clarifying and spiritually enhancing properties and because I can get as much of it as I need from my mother’s backyard. But in many other places white sage is endangered, and you may well not have access to it. There are many other herbs you can use. Among the best are lavender, mugwort, wormwood, kitchen sage and sweetgrass. All of these have cleansing and spiritually enhancing properties.

But you can do without a smudge and I have on many occasions. Incense is also good for settling and calming an atmosphere although most stick incense doesn’t have the mildly mind-altering qualities of herbal smudges. Essential oil diffusers may be an even better option, especially for those who have allergies or respiratory problems with smoke. Be aware that synthetic oils may also be problematic for many people and try to find good-quality, natural essential oils.

Still, you may be in a place where no smoke of any kind is allowed or simply need to do a reading quickly. In that case, don’t let the lack of something smoking or steaming stop you from doing Tarot.

One other thing I suggest is a cup of something to drink that is calming and centering. This generally does not mean coffee. Coffee or other caffeinated drinks are fine right after the reading, but will tend to interfere with the contemplation, unless you have ADHD or a similar neurological imbalance—in which case, do whatever your experience tells you will allow you a contemplative moment or two.

I prefer tea, even in the summer. It’s just a thing. I won’t generally drink my favorite chai tea during a reading though. I’m much more likely to drink herbal tea. Thyme, mint and wild oregono are particularly good for readings.

As you can see, setting up a Tarot space has a lot of elements of calming each of our senses in turn. Clearing up clutter and lighting a candle, settles and comforts our visual and kinesthetic senses. Smudges, incense and diffusers both calm and focus our olfactory sense. Tea takes care of our sense of taste in a soothing way.

For that reason, a lot of people will put on some soothing, meditative music to do readings, covering the auditory sense as well. I usually skip that step, but it depends on what helps you to be fully focused and relaxed. Certainly, it is good to try to be at a temperature that isn’t distracting, if at all possible.

And speaking of distractions, there is the question of other people who may be in your space. Tarot, in my experience, is best done alone. I do it with a single friend sometimes, but it isn’t easy. Then again, I’m a certified introvert. It may be different for you.

The thing is that Tarot is a spiritual contemplative practice. I’m not saying that you can’t do it while someone is drumming and a room full of people are dancing as the spirit moves them right next to you. Particularly, if the gathering is spiritual in nature, it may work fine and the energy may be wonderful for the Tarot

However, if the energy is not focused. If other people are watching TV and just hanging out, it is likely that their energy will interfere with the Tarot. Like I said before, this can simply make the reading more vague than in needs to be. I have never met a public Tarot reader who did anything but vague readings at those booths you see at fairs and other events, though there may be someone somewhere with the focus to withstand any external energy.

So it makes sense that if someone is laying out a reading while several friends lean over the table and joke and make derogatory remarks about the Tarot, whether the reader is participating in the hilarity or not, the reading won’t work. This is why “testing” the Tarot in a social setting also tends to get readings so vague as to be useless.

In the end, a space to read Tarot should be a space were you can calm your mind and heart, focus clearly on a question and be receptive to other-than-logical connections. As herbalists say about herbal tea, part of the medicine is in the actual tea (or the Tarot, in this case) and part of the benefit is in the fact that you get to sit down in comfort for a moment. Don’t underestimate the power of these quiet moments and make the space as relaxing and pleasant as possible.

Tarot basics: Choosing a good Tarot book

In my first post on the Tarot, I made much of the fact that it is as good as the Bible or other ancient and revered religious texts.

Does this make Tarot books scripture? There are thousands after all. You might be thinking that they can’t possibly all be scripture (or even very good). And you would be right.

It is eminently possible to write a bad Tarot book and many of them are less than stellar. Even among the good ones, few people will agree on which are the best. When I said that the Tarot can be used the way people use the Bible to read a random bit of spiritual guidance, I was referring more specifically to the cards themselves.

There are 78 cards in the traditional Tarot deck developed over centuries of study. Each card is a symbol, an abstract concept—love, work, study, beginning, enthusiasm, conflict, death, rebirth, wholeness… But these words in any ordinary language are woefully insufficient to capture the full meaning of each concept.

However, the Tarot is a language that does possess the nuance and depth to capture the fullness of these concepts and to do so in the context of ever-changing life. And more importantly the Tarot provides a language for communication between you and your Self (or the Gods or your ancestors, depending on your goal).

That is the text of tremendous meaning I was talking about: the concepts of the 78 cards in an infinite variety of combinations. In many decks, symbols are used within the picture or a key word is printed on the card to help jog your intuition or memory of the key aspects that the card represents.

That is why it is fine to have many different decks of cards that appeal to many different individuals and communities. The original Tarot had a limited audience of western, European, esoteric intellectuals in a Judeo-Christian paradigm. The symbols in those cards necessarily speak to and are most useful to that demographic.

That’s why, in the previous post, I encouraged you to choose a deck that reflects your personal tastes and culture. Chances are the symbols in such a deck will be more comprehensible and useful to you.

Many people take just that—a deck with symbols they understand or key words—and read with it. They use the cards as a dictionary and start a kind of Pigeon conversation with their inner self, their gods or whatever entities they contact.

And there is nothing inherently wrong with doing it like that without a book. If it works for you, it can be valuable and a good way to leave space for your intuition.

However, for many of us, that way is too limited. The vocabulary is necessarily just about 78 words, or theoretically 156 if you count each reversal as an opposite. It’s still a more limited language than I would like to have for an in-depth conversation of complex practical and spiritual matters.

That is why I recommend using interpretation books. These are like translators to help you decode the more nuanced meanings in your Tarot conversation. Many of them are quite good and hopefully I can help you choose one (or a few) to start with.

The book that comes with your deck

Many Tarot decks have a specific book devoted to them. If you have chosen a very specific type of deck and it has a book that goes with it, it is a good idea to obtain and use this book at least for a while until you get used to that deck and its symbols.

However, there are conceivable reasons you may want a different book. Sometimes you’ll get a deck and there either is no book to go along with it or you can’t obtain the book for whatever reason.

Then, there are quite a few specialized decks that only come with a small booklet including a vague sentence or two about each card. Such decks may be designed by someone with greater talent in visual art and symbols than with words, or it may have been a decision by a publisher that the artist couldn’t necessarily control. Either way, that little booklet is unlikely to give you the kind of depth you need.

Finally, you may have already used the book that came with the deck for some time and found it lacking, though you may love the cards.

Any of these are legitimate reasons to be on the look-out for a new book. Sometimes I am also looking for a new book with its own cards and my decision on which deck to get will be based both on how the cards look and the contents of the book.

What to look for in a Tarot book

There are people who own a hundred or more Tarot books. While I’m an experienced reader, I’m not among the worst offenders, though this is partly due to lack of finances rather than self control. I own more than a dozen Tarot books. I variously inherited some of them, but others I sought out through a painstaking process of research and careful consideration of the options.

The most important consideration for a book is that it should address the same number of and structure of cards (Major and Minor arcana, suits, etc.) as the deck you are using, though it doesn’t necessarily have to call the cards the same thing. If your cards refer to the “Prince of Wands” and the book refers to the “Knight of fire” instead, this is not a big problem. Here are a few examples of the different kinds of terminology you may find:

Minor Arcana = Lesser mysteries

Wands = fire = will = spirit

Swords = air = mind = thought

Disks = pentacles = coins = earth = body

Cups = chalices = goblets = water = heart

Page = princess = child

Knight = prince = explorer

Queen = priestess = guardian

King = priest = elder

Major arcana = Greater mysteries

The Fool = the Seeker

The Magician = the Witch

The Empress = the Lady = the Mother

The Emperor = the Lord = the Father

The Hierophant = the High Priest = the Teacher

The Chariot = the Canoe = other vehicles

The Hermit = the Shaman = the Holly King

Temperance = The Fferyllt = The Healer

The Hanged Man = the Sacrifice

Death = Rebirth

Judgement = Rebirth (different decks)

The World = the World Tree = Wholeness = Enlightenment

Though these terms may vary and those I have listed are only examples, there should be a rough correspondence if the book refers to 78 cards including 22 major cards and the rest being divided in to four suits. You can certainly choose to work with other systems that have fewer (or possibly more) cards but you will need to have the book and the deck from the same system and if you find that one or the other isn’t ideal for you, you’ll be stuck. This is one reason I recommend starting out with a somewhat standard deck.

Be aware that while most systems place Strength as number eight among the Major Arcana and Justice as number eleven, some books (and some decks) switch their number correspondence for complex historical and numerological reasons. Just be sure to check these particular cards and their numbering in your book.

A discrepancy in the numbering between your book and your deck is not a terrible thing, but you’ll have to remember to read the correct card meaning, rather than the number.

Just as with Tarot decks, there are lot of other personal considerations in your choice of a book. Here is a general list of what to look out for:

1. The text should be legible and clearly written with a minimum of grammatical errors. This shows attention to detail, which will hopefully translate into accuracy in the card interpretations as well.

2. There should be a section explaining the philosophy and approach of the author.

3. There may or may not be specific layouts and readings described with sample interpretations. If you are just beginning and don’t have a teacher, you will find it helpful to have some sample layouts and examples of readings and how they can be interpreted. If you are more experienced, you may not be as interested in this section, which often comes at the end of the book.

4. There should be separate sections for Major and Minor Arcana. The major arcana section generally devotes more space to each card—at least a full page, if not multiple pages. The Major Arcana are complex symbols. Some books explain the major arcana not only in isolation but in relation to one another. I did not truly understand these more complex concepts until I read several books that perceived the major arcana as a depiction of the Hero’s Journey and divided them into three levels of initiation. I recommend looking for books that do this, particularly if you struggle with the Major Arcana, which many new readers do.

5. It should have a separate heading for each of the Minor Arcana—ace through ten and four court cards in each suit. In some books, there may be only a few lines explaining the card. Depending on your take on the Tarot, Minor Arcana can be viewed as simple representations of terms or practical concepts and as such they may only need a few words of explanation. But I prefer to have a page of explanation along with key words.

6. Some books list a somewhat different meaning if a card is reversed (upside down) in a reading. Others advise you to read them as the opposite or a subtler or subconscious version of the upright meaning or to read them the same as upright and to ignore the reversal. Your choice of book may depend on your feelings about this. My mother has always resisted reading reversals and her focus in the Tarot is on personal growth. She seeks out the positive messages in the Tarot and works to integrate the wisdom of the cards into her life. My focus is on a detailed and honest conversation, including conversation with my shadow. I prefer to have reverse definitions and generally will steer clear of books that don’t list at least a “shadow side.” You can hear difficult messages from the Tarot even without reading reversals. A number of cards have troubling or negative meanings when upright. But the majority of the cards are relatively positive in meaning when upright, so if you want to focus on the positive rather than delving into and solving problems, you may prefer to read without considering reversals.

7. Some books have a picture of the card next to its description. Because I don’t always use the deck that goes with the book, I prefer books that have such a picture but again it is not entirely necessary.

8. What I do find indispensable is a short list of key words along with a descriptive text. There are types of readings where I will use only the key words, and once I have read the same book several times, the key words provide helpful reminders.

9. Some books have only one block of descriptive text about each card. Others have a bit describing and explaining the symbols and then a second bit interpreting what the card means for you or even in specific contexts, such as a person, a process or an event. I personally prefer books that clearly mark meanings and contexts in separate subheadings from description. My way of reading is somewhat analytical, so this may be personal taste. Other books have affirmations or questions for meditation or journaling attached to each card. It is worth taking the time to skim through the descriptions for Major- and Minor-Arcana cards before deciding on a book.

10. Some books will rely heavily on esoteric symbols or astrology to explain and interpret the cards. If you also pursue these areas of study, you may wish to choose books which relate to the cards in this way. However, if you don’t have a solid background in astrology or esoteric symbols, I find that an over-reliance on them in a book can be a barrier to understanding. It is best to choose a book which speaks in terms that are familiar and relatively easy for you to understand. Straightforward, lay-person’s language does not necessarily mean less wisdom, just a different approach to it.

11. Similarly, some books will rely heavily on other fields, such as psychology, psychotherapy, art, religion, magick, herbal medicine or science to explain the cards. It is wonderful to have a book that interprets the Tarot in the context of a field you are well versed in. But if a book focuses on a field which you don’t know well and have little interest in, this will only complicate matters.

12. Look for a book that speaks directly to you. You should be able to relate the description of a random card to an experience or concept in your own life. The text should be interesting and accessibly written. The themes and philosophy of the book should be something you enjoy and feel comfortable with.

There are several books I have found to be invaluable for increasing my understanding of the Tarot but my list of favorites will not necessarily agree with that of other experienced readers.

I will provide the names of some of my favorite books here, because some of my readers may share my proclivities (given that you are odd enough to read my blog). Be forewarned, that I lean toward Celtic-flavored Paganism and an emotional, social and practical outlook on divination. I don’t mind some astrology and esoteric symbols in my Tarot, but it isn’t my primary focus. I demand that books be written in a conversational and accessible tone.

Here is my short list:

• The Complete Book of Tarot by Juliet Sharman-Burke was my introductory text some thirty years ago. It is a slim volume with very brief descriptions of the Minor Arcana cards. I had several other books and at the time few books were written in accessible language. This was the best of them for me. I don’t know if it is the best book for beginners today but it served me well.

• Spiritual Tarot by Sign E. Echols MS., Robert Mueller, Ph.D., and Sandra A. Thomson is a clearly and pleasantly written book with solid psychological underpinnings. If you are interested in the Tarot for personal development or emotional and spiritual growth this is an excellent choice. It includes user-friendly descriptions of the Major Arcana based on the Hero’s Journey.

• The DruidCraft Tarot by Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm is my favorite book (and my favorite deck going along with it) at the moment. The writing is never dull and the descriptions are clear, practical and personally interesting. Whereas many books put the Major Arcana first, this one recognizes that these cards are more difficult to master and puts what is easiest first. It groups the Minors according to number rather than suit, which makes them easier to look up quickly. Most importantly it not only follows a Hero’s Journey model of describing the Major Arcana but relates each part of the journey to specific scenes in Celtic mythology, which is something that personally speaks to me.

• Gaian Tarot by Joanna Powell Colbert was clearly a labor of love. This is another book that has a deck to go along with it. The artist photographed her friends to make the various characters in the cards. The photographs are manipulated to fit the meanings of the cards but they are based on real photos. Even if you don’t have (or want) the matching cards, the book is exceptionally well written and includes specific subheadings for personal reflection on each card. This book is particularly helpful for those with a social justice and ecological outlook.

The spiritual divide that matters

Are you spiritual, not religious? Are you a polytheist, not a monotheist? Are you traditional, not eclectic? Or the reverse?

Do any of these distinctions matter a great deal?

Not really. There are reasons to be “spiritual” and reasons to be “religious” (i.e. seeking spirituality in community). I am not particularly interested in whether or not a person believes in one god or many. I am not even particularly worried about how traditional or how eclectic someone else is, as long as they let others pursue their own path in peace.

Image by Jannis of flickr.com

There is essentially only one divide in spiritual paths I am really concerned about and that is how grounded in their everyday life their beliefs are.

Do you live your beliefs? Do you practice what you preach? Does your spiritual tradition focus mainly on an ethereal soul and reaching higher levels of enlightnement/grace or is it concerned with what you are doing today, what your voice speaks and what your hands create?

Those are the important questions

Why don’t I include open-mindedness in that? How tolerant and benevolent toward others a spiritual path is? Well, just about every path claims to be benevolent. So again, the important question is integrity of practice.

Some paths, such as mystical forms of Buddhism, may appear to focus exclusively on the ethereal level without regard to the here and now, yet when you look at how their most experienced practitioners move through the world, it is clear that living their beliefs moment by moment is of crucial importance.

On the other hand, there are many religious denominations today, particularly in wealthy, “advanced” countries, which encourage members to view spirituality as something you come to do once a week or once a day at a proscribed time and place. There are certain prohibitions for mundane life, usually involving gender, sex and/or eating to ensure personal purity, but beyond that there is little connection between spirituality and the rest of life.

Some define this as a difference between orthodoxy and orthopraxy. There are paths where it is primarily important that you believe the right things—orthodoxy—and paths where it is more important that you do the right things—orthopraxy.

A common phrase among Christian fundamentalists has it that “there are many good people in hell.” Doing right is not the key there. It is believing the right thing—orthodoxy.

By contrast, modern western Pagans are fond of bragging that our beliefs are about orthopraxy—i.e. doing right. But some of those boasters only mean doing right inside the ritual space.

Certainly, it is difficult to discuss integrity when a community claims—as modern western Pagans often do today—that there is no unified ethic or belief to bind them. But each practice does have its own implicit ethics, whether we want to acknowledge them or not.

If you venerate ancestors, that implies something that is sacred. It clearly implies an imperative to honor the elderly and render real aid at least within your family. If you call on the elements, that requires a respect for those elements. To do right would then be to actively protect against the trashing of the earth, the polluting of the water and the poisoning of the air.

Some will say that ethereal enlightenment somehow in the end circles back to take care of the material aspects of spirituality. But I would rather choose the motto of “fake it ‘til ya make it.”

I often sit in my morning meditation, distracted, emotional or even angry. The other day, instead of sitting and chanting spiritually uplifting sounds or being in the moment, I yelled at my matron goddess because the burden I have been given when it comes to family hardship, social prejudice and personal trauma had reached the point where it was more than I could bear.

Yup, not very enlightened.

And my orthodoxy is pretty messed up. I’m not sure if my goddess has any part in handing me the trials and lessons of my life or if she is my guide through them or if I am a pair of hands and a voice for her in the material world. Or all of the above. My theology goes through hesitant cycles.

But I do better with the practical part. I go out to feed the animals each morning, breaking the ice on the ducks’ trough with reverence. I give greetings to the chickens and the fir trees and the linden. I smile at the softly steaming compost and at the pink and cobalt sky of winter.

I light homemade candles and incense as offerings. I teach my children to look for what each season has to offer. I read stories and cook seasonally and as much as possible from what we grow or bargain for locally. I think of the earth and our non-human family with each decision to buy, work or recreate.

My matron goddess is Brigid, so for me anything regarding keeping the home and hearth, adoptive parenting, healing and working with medicinal herbs, writing and story-telling or even crafts of making things like soaps and candles is part of my relationship with her. And as such, I strive to do these things in line with her virtues.

Clearly I’m not perfect in that. I am not her, only one of hers.

My openness to others and the spiritual paths of others is broad and wide with this one criterion. I do care how grounded your beliefs are. How do you manifest them in your daily life? I have shared my home and hearth with many a Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Muslim and Pagan, and I have always found that if we see eye to eye on that, we have no quarrel, only interesting philosophical conversations.

And while I will admit that having a belief in something that makes ethics sacred is one reason I prefer spirituality to atheism, there is integrity for atheists too. It just isn’t simple and it tends to be truly individual. Whatever you believe is right in theory, should also be your practice. That is it at the core.