Whilst Tarot can be used for entertainment, these cards can also be used in a journey of self exploration to draw out our own hero archetype. 'Packed' with hundreds of other archetypes, the pictures draw on the psychological, philosophical, mythological and spiritual elements of an individual - making a connection with the archetypal influence that is presently presiding in an individual's character. As in choosing therapy to initiate change, the seeking of the picture path route to the answering of a question can give the seeker self appointed permission to move from a difficult place of being to another that is more comfortable.

As in general counselling, individuals who seek assistance of another are primarily looking for a way to change their lives, it may be that they need to change something in their lives to do that. It may be that they more personally need to change something within themselves. The realisation that we can all be many people and that our characterisations are self chosen, is an argument for those who believe they can never change, but for those who believe they can, change occurs when we think it is most beneficial to us. People have altered their lives in amazing ways and such stories of hope have inspired the books and film industry for years, carrying on from the traditional stories of Cinderella, etc. We can all get out there with a little help from another and we need only do it once to know it can be done at all!

So how does Tarot work? In a pack, the most popular being the Rider-Waite, there are 78 cards, 22 of which are called the Major Arcana and 56 of which are called the Minor Arcana. The difference between the two sets is largely symbolic. The Major Arcana presents the pathway for inner exploration using a rich display of symbols and the Minor Arcana uses a series of four suits, Wands, Swords, Pentagrams and Cups to inspire the dynamics of creation. Hence you might compare a Tarot reading to speedily building the structure of a house (ie yourself) before you add to it the furniture and then your chosen guests!

Whilst the origins of Tarot precede any historical reference that there is to date, it has been linked with initiatory rites both in India and ancient Egypt and may have a much earlier origin. Certainly symbols were used before the written word, and picture writing could convey much to those unable to read, hence their use in stained glass windows. Even today, children’s books will contain more pictures than words, which reduce in frequency as their vocabulary develops. In this respect manuals for adults are not dissimilar as they also provide a dual function. In diagrams, which support the instructions, highlighted pertinent areas enables the instructions to be easier to follow.

As with all symbols, pictures can move the mind from one place to another. By using an unfathomable, creative and even playful form of logic, a mirror is thrown up for a seeker to unconsciously engage in their reflection. What they then perceive will neither be orderly or obvious, but it will be their own. It is from their own ideas that they can develop as a person for in identifying them as their own, they realise such ideas were always theirs. Jung called this 'individuation' because when an individual knows that their own ideas are their own, they come to know themselves. It is this sense of individuation that we all have which can enable tarot to be a useful tool. Always the questions we ask of ourselves will produce answers, but it is when we believe that which makes sense to us, we get to know the true nature of ourselves. That is the stuff that makes us authentic as individuals and without the desire to be authentic we lose the ability to achieve our full potential. All that then is left is a shadow of what we could have been, which like an undeveloped flower never reaches its fullest bloom!

The meeting with oneself is, at first, the meeting with one’s own shadow.… Whoever looks into the water sees his own image, but behind it …sometimes a nixie gets into the fisherman’s net.… The nixie is an even more instinctive version of a magical feminine being whom I call the anima.… Only when all props and crutches are broken, and no cover from the rear offers even the slightest hope of security does it become possible for us to experience an archetype that up to then had hidden behind the meaningful nonsense played out by the anima. This is the archetype of meaning, just as the anima is the archetype of life itself.

(C. G. Jung., Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious)

Gwyn ap Nudd

Ancient British God & Hero