0 The Fool, Robin Wood Tarot

So, here’s a spread for those times when you are about to make a big leap…

Card 1 – At the Fool’s Feet: the foundation you have beneath you that supports your leap

Card 2 – At the Fool’s Heels: events from the past or people either helping or hindering your leap

Card 3 – Out of the Fool’s Sight: the risks of taking this leap

Card 4 – Over the Fool’s Head: what you may not be taking into account

Card 5- In the Fool’s Pack: what resources you have at your disposal to enable you to take this leap

Card 6 – The Fool’s Leap: where this leap into the unknown will take you.

There’s a number of ways the Flip Side of a Reading can be used.

1. The Flip Side of the Outcome

You’ve done your reading, and there’s your outcome card in front of you. Most spreads will have only a single card for an outcome in a reading, but we all know that life is never, ever that simple. So, there’s always a flip side, the stuff you haven’t considered, the other way of looking at it… Alongside your outcome card, ask yourself “So, what’s the flip side of this?” and pull a card at random from the pack. There’s your flip side. Example:

Outcome = Ace of Cups. Things are looking pretty good in this spread, particularly if the question was about a relationship or the querent’s emotional state. Bliss, ecstasy, union… their cup runneth over.

Ace of Cups (White Tara) from "Pistis Sophia: the Goddess Tarot"

But what’s the Flip Side to this? It can’t always be that perfect, can it? What other aspects are there to consider here? The Flip Side: Nine of Wands. Although the relationship/union will be extremely happy and will have a deeply spiritual aspect to it, the querent(s) will need to face many battles together, climb many a mountain together, and test their mettle together. Otherwise their spiritual connection will have nothing to fire it up. Peace may be good, but “interesting times” create the true heroes.

Nine of Wands (Yamato Takeru) from "Sol Invictus: the God Tarot"

2. A New Perspective

Sometimes we’re having a hard time getting to grips with a situation or coping with a circumstance. We may be stuck in a rut or finding ourselves at an increasingly negative stage in a process, getting trapped by unhelpful thought processes or self-defeatism. And when we’re caught up in these places, it can be difficult to get ourselves out. What we need is to shake things up from the outside in: gain an entirely new perspective on the matter. So, this New Perspective exercise can be used as a method of reflection and the instigator of a new thought process in relation to such a situation.

First, you (or the querent) consciously chooses a card from the pack that represents how you/they are feeling about the situation or describes the situation as you/they see it. This is not a random choice from dealing the cards out. Encourage the querent to use this card to talk about the situation, or you can do the talking to a friend, a pet, or just write it all down in a journal. Now, discuss/write about how you feel this perspective is holding you back or making things difficult for you. What behaviours to you engage in that are caused by this perspective, for instance?

Next, lay that card aside and ask yourself what new perspective on the situation is available, open your mind up to a new approach that is more helpful, healthier, coherent or holistic. Pull one card at random from the deck. This is your Flip Side, your New Perspective. What does it tell you? Spend some time with this card discussing/writing about the ways in which you can start to modify your thought patterns to encompass this new perspective; discuss how you feel it will beneficial to you and your situation.

3. Flipping the Pancake

When things just aren’t going right, you need to ask yourself, “How can I turn things around?” This is very similar to the last exercise, and can be used in conjuction with an outcome/situation card in a reading that is unwanted or shows negative outcomes or situations. Simply ask yourself “How can I turn things around?” and pull one card. A negative outcome never has to be negative: by engaging in the present we have some control over our future. Tarot can be used to engage more proactively and informedly with life in the present to build a better future.

In the end, life is like a pancake. There’s always another side to things that you may not be able to see until you take decisive action to turn things around, flip things over, or shake things up.

Happy Pancake Eating! Here in the UK, you have all of 23 minutes left to indulge.

IV The Emperor, Robin Wood Tarot

The Emperor is seated in his own power.And so can we be if we ask ourselves what it means to be seated in our power. The Emperor bears the message that we must learn where our power lies and how we can attain and maintain it: and by “power” I do not mean “power over”. The Emperor’s true power does not lie in dominance except that he may be in a position of authority over other people, simply because it is his responsibility to be so, and this rulership is a reciprocal relationship – he rules with wisdom and fairness, offering protection, work, resources, etc., and in turn he is ruled by his subjects, who dictate what they would like from him.

In today’s busy modern world it is often difficult to understand what it means to be seated in your own power, without the need to have power over another, without needing to engage in power struggles. Our culture and education system is geared towards moulding nothing more than office fodder and cogs in a machinery, giving everybody equal opportunities (which is a good thing) but allowing nobody to find where their power, their strengths, their courage, lies. There are no opportunities instituted in our culture for youth to test its mettle and discover its power, to be initiated into adulthood, to understand what strength in the truest sense of the word is. We understand it as physical prowess, and we understand it as an ability to “keep calm and carrry on”, “man up and grow a pair” and “just keep swimming”. Strength is only really seen in opposition to the parts of life that drag us down and threaten to overcome us, and in persevering we usually find that rather than stepping into our power, we do merely that: persevere. We are wiser and probably weaker because of it, and only a few of us discover our power.

When faced with the Emperor a few nights ago, whilst taking a new student through some exercises to intuitively engage with the symbolism that maps each card’s meaning, I went through the exercise as well. We both had different cards (he the Moon, and I the Emperor) and we wrote down every symbol we could find in our cards. Next, we wrote down one or two words for each symbol, e.g ravens: “Odin, wisdom, knowing all”; crustacean: “something primordial, coming up from the subconscious”. As I went through the Emperor’s symbols in the Robin Wood Tarot, I found myself looking at the throne and seeing “power”, and then said, “the Emperor is seated in his own power.”

Now, the Emperor has often represented a man who is comfortable and fully aware of his strengths, weaknesses and power, but now this spread to everybody – the Emperor, the ruler of an empire, represents our own power and to be “seated in it”. I asked myself what this meant to me at this time, and looked to the other symbols in the card for an answer.

- Red mountains behind him: To be seated in your own power is to know you accomplishment, but to also know that there is always still more to achieve, more on the horizon, other ways to improve, and not to boast or believe oneself better than everybody else; to be comfortable with your achievements to date, using them as a firm foundation to go on to greater things when the time and opportunity presents itself.

- Globe beneath his feet: To know where you are. This is not “knowing your place”, but instead knowing where you are as a person, your situation, your problems and obstacles, as well as your opportunities and doorways. To know where you are as a constanty developing person. Knowing where you are in the first stage to knowing where you can go.

- Eagle flying high above: To have soaring ambition. This soaring ambition is not the kind that seeks to one-up other people, but to simply better oneself, achieve one’s heart’s desire, make better the positions of others, improve and evolve. More importantly, to have a soaring ambition should involve knowing how to achieve the ambition.

- Ravens at his shoulders: Odin’s Ravens, Hugin and Munin (thought and memory respectively), that flew out everyday to see the world’s turnings and bring the knowledge back to Odin. To be seated in your own power is to know the world around you, understand it, and seek to take in information before acting. Power does not require demonstrations of power-over or dominance, and often the greatest power is in holding back until all information has been gained, or until the opportune moment, before taking any action.

- The Ram of Aries: To be seated in one’s power is to have an expansive, ever-moving power. Aries is well-known in astrology for rushing headlong into things, being bold and confidant, with a strength of will that is truly a sight to behold. With a strong will, have the battle is over.

- Red: The fiery colour of masculinity tells us that to be seated in one’s power is to have an open, active nature that is fuelled by firm foundations, just as fire is fuelled and fed with wood. It is to take risks sometimes and to inspire.

- Armour: To be seated in one’s power is not to seek war or confrontation for their own sake, but nevertheless to be prepared to fight for what you believe in and the people around you and whom you love if threatened or the need arises. It is to stand your ground and not give in, to display your strength when required. Sometimes this means to defend only, but sometimes one must be confidant enough with one’s own power to be able to be on the offense, heading off problems before they can take hold. To be seated in one’s power is to not be cowed by those who would bully and oppress, deny and shut away, to not run from confrontation through fearor weakness, and to overcome fear by stepping into it.

- The ankh upon his sceptre: the Egyptian symbol of life tells us that to be seated in one’s power is to grab life with both hands, to take every opportunity and to live fearlessly and wholeheartedly, to not become an unquestioning vegetable glued to television all day, to have the courage to say “YES!” to life and not say “no” out of fear, to make every day count.

- The big, busy beard: I associate beard like this with wisdom and guidance from elders, so it suggests that to be seated in one’s power is to have wisdom (very different to knowledge!) and to have a moral compass and sense of responsbility. To know where and how one’s responsibilities lie and be able to make one’s own decisions based on a carefully understood code of conduct – not necessarily one that you have been taught by others, but one you have actively chosen to adhere to.

- The horn hanging upon his throne: This horn reminded me of the Sofar, the ram’s horn blown at the Jewish festival of Rosh Hashanah, calling the faithful to repentence and to seek forgiveness from those they have wronged during the previous 12 months. This tells me that to be seated in one’s power is not just to know one’s strengths, but also to know where one is in the wrong, who one has wronged, and to have the backbone and courage to approach those people and make amends. It is to take moral responsibility for one’s actions. For more on the role of the Shofar, check this out.

I love the Emperor. He represents power – not just any power, but MY power, and YOUR power. And with the right application of my power and your power, the world would be a better place indeed. The Emperor, when seated in his power, is a world builder, a world leader, and he can be each and every one of us. Our world and immediate environment and community should be part of our responsibility, and we should have a proactive hand in protecting in, attaining it, and maintaining it.

Venue: Rogue Yoga, 50-52 Albany Road, Roath, Cardiff (UK), CF24 3RR.

A whole day dedicated to learning Tarot from the ground up, providing students with the foundations and frameworks for developing a deep and personal understanding of the cards and the Tarot system. Using any deck of your choice, this Tarot Intensive explores:

• The method of interpreting a Tarot spread
• Easy and effective spreads
• The symbolism in the cards
• How to understand the Court Cards
• The structure of the Minor Arcana
• The soul’s journey in the Major Arcana
• Exercises for discovering the meaning of the cards

This intensive is hands-on, so you’ll be using the cards from the beginning of the day, putting into practice what we learn as we go. Some of the exercises we’ll use include:

• Tarot Stories: learning to weave the meanings between the cards
• Say What You See: intuitive interpretation of the cards
• Tarot of the Five Senses: exploring all aspects of a card
• Tarot Three-Way: in-depth one-card Tarot readings
• Tarot Opposition: exploring numerology in the Minor Arcana
• Elemental Tarot: Earth, Air, Fire and Water in the cards

You can come along if you have no experience in Tarot, but more experienced readers will also find a fresh perspective, inspiration, and a deepening of understanding. You’ll also meet others with a shared passion for Tarot and discover unique techniques for working with the cards.

Cost: £40 for the day / £50 with a signed copy of “Tarot 101: Mastering the Art of Reading the Cards” by Kim Huggens

Bring: Tarot deck(s), a notebook and pen, enthusiasm and an open mind.

The beginning of a fortnightly Tarot course (10 workshops) designed to take you from beginner to advanced, “Tarot: From the Group Up and the Roots Down” aims to provide you with the tools and foundations to develop your own relationship and understanding of the cards and their symbolism.

Using any Tarot deck of your choice, you’ll learn in a fun, hands-on, informal manner how to:

• Create your own Tarot spreads
• Interpret the cards within minutes
• Weave a Tarot reading together
• Improve your intuition
• Develop a relationship and personal understanding of the cards

Throughout the course, you’ll discover:

• The many kinds of symbolism (astrology, numerology, Kabbalah, alchemy, etc.) used in Tarot and what mysteries they reveal in the cards
• The Soul’s journey contained within the Major Arcana
• Techniques for learning card meanings and developing your own
• Exciting and unusual methods of using the cards to proactively engage with life
• The origins of the Tarot and what we can learn from them

This course is taught in the same way that Tarot should be used: hands-on from the start, putting learning into practice straight away, with endless opportunities for making your own discoveries.

Cost: £20 per workshop / OR £150 for the entire course if you pay for all 10 at once.

Spaces may be limited, so booking in advance is advised. Please email kimhuggens@yahoo.co.uk to book your place (deposit of the cost of the first workshop will be required – £20) or for any enquiries.

Please bring a Tarot deck if you have one, but there will be decks available to borrow until you get your own.

Kim Huggens has 18 years of experience with the cards, and is the author of “Tarot 101: Mastering the Art of Reading the Cards” (Llewellyn, 2010) and “Sol Invictus: the God Tarot” (Schiffer Books, 2007.) She is a professional Tarot reader, and has given lectures and workshops on Tarot throughout the UK. She also writes articles for various online and hardcopy magazines on the subject, with work featuring in “Kindred Spirit”, “Soul & Spirit”, “Spirit & Destiny”, “The American Tarot Quarterly” and “Tarosophist International”. She is currently working on The Tarot Review, which will be developed throughout 2012, and a second Tarot deck, “Pistis Sophia: the Goddess Tarot.” www.kimhuggens.com

To begin, each person can either have their own deck in hand, or they can all use the same deck. Everybody draws a single card. Now, the object of the game is to tell a whole story between you, with the cards in your hand inspiring another feature or event in that story. As such, somebody begins and introduces the story with the words, “Once upon a time…” (as all the best stories begin.) Each person that follows builds upon the story told so far, until the final person must conclude the story with “and he/she/they lived happily/unhappily/not at all (!) ever after” (the conclusion is, of course, greatly dependent upon preceding events!

Every story is different, but some good rules to follow are:

• Try to see beyond the first glance. It maybe tempting, if your card is the Queen of Cups, to simply say, “…and then, this queen holding a giant cup showed up”. Deus ex machina is the lowest and most vulgur feature of storytelling, and should be kept to a minimum! Instead, look at the symbolism of the card, the environment, and ask what it actually means. Then, weave that into the story. So, instead of a queen holding a massive cup, we may instead find that a seductive mermaid starts to tempt the protagonist, or a fortune teller comes on the scene, or the protagonist finds themselves in a position of being confided in my an emotionally distraught friend…
• Don’t be afraid to spend some time on your card. Yould could add a mere sentence to the story, but these cards are in-depth and full of meaning, so try to give at least a minute or two to the story yourself.
• Don’t be afraid to draw in multiple aspects of the card. Perhaps the card is suggesting to you a few different, yet related facets? Well, you could explore all those facets through the protagonist. Physically speaking, the mermaid in the Queen of Cups part of the story could pose a risk of drowing to the protagonist, but inside he’s deeply attracted, mesmerised, and at the same time confused because his mind feels fuzzy and surrounded by only thoughts of her…
• Allow yourself to refer back to previous cards. If you feel that a card somebody else drew previously has a link to your chapter of the story, don’t be afraid to link back to it. After all, in a Tarot reading you’d naturally refer back to other cards and how they affect the current one.
• If the first card of the story doesn’t suggest a character, just create one randomly. The first card might, after all, introduce an event or a place, or even a group of people, so it’s up to the first player to arbitrarily create a protagonist that they think will best fit the scene or genre.
• Any genre of story can be told, though in truth players tend towards a fantasy setting, since most Tarot decks feature medieaval artwork or titles. But don’t feel penned in by that genre – if you want to set your story in Ancient Mesopotamia, in the temple of the Goddess Inanna, during a Spring festival (Four of Wands…) or in modern America, in an apartment block in the poor side of town (Five of Coins) that’s fine too.

This game can be played as many times as you like, with as many people as you like. What’s really beautiful about it is the fact that you are learning to not only link the cards together in a coherent story, but also see how one card directly affects the energies of another. So, the Tower appearing before the Ten of Swords will be different to the Tower appearing before the Six of Swords, or the Two of Cups preceded by the Two of Coins would be different to being preceded by The Lovers.

No matter what your experience with the cards, this is a great game to play. I’ve often listened to players highlight a feature of a card that I had not seen before, yet seemed so obvious once they’d mentioned it!

Enjoy

Issue 2, Conjure Magazine Front Cover

Issue 2 of Conjure Magazine is now available online for free here. It includes an article by myself and Nic Phillips, “Tarot Pilgrimages: Creating Spreads from the Sacred Landscape” (pp. 22-24) and a Tarot spread we created inspired by Glastonbury Tor in Somerset, UK (p.25) It also features the “Offerings to Sulis Minerva Tarot Spread” previously published on this blog.

Enjoy!

I created this Tarot spread in 2003 as a way of exploring the themes, energies, opportunities and challenges that would come the followin year. It subsequently became the Tarot Passages Tarot spread of the month, April 2004, and was featured in the Tarot Lovers Calendar 2005. Since then I’ve used it for myself, friends and clients either around birthdays or for the New Year. Unlike most other year-per-view readings, this doesn’t tell you what is going to happen each month, but rather uses the eight Pagan festivals as themes and how they appear in the querent’s life throughout the year. They could happen anytime during the year. This approach is much more freeform, allowing the reader to draw links more effectively between cards and groups of cards, or trace a line of influence between themes, challenges, obstacles and opportunities.

The spread starts with a trio of cards in the “Yule/Winter Solstice” position, and moves around the Wheel of the Year clockwise. It concludes with a trio of extra cards that act as guidance or blessings for the querent’s year. I also found it useful to calculate the querent’s Year card to see if it turns up in the spread – the position it appears in may be extra important for them, or offer a particularly special challenge or opportunity. It is also worth taking a general view of the reading before getting into any detail to assess which suit is dominant, or which number. This can suggest the area that will be most prominent in the querent’s life in the coming year, or the stage of a process they will be at. For instance, many Twos might suggest they will be in limbo or at a liminal stage in their life for much of the year, or many Fives might indicate a year of conflict and imbalance.

…………………………Litha 1, 2, 3………………………….

……….Beltane 1, 2, 3……………Lughnassad 1, 2, 3……..

Ostara 1, 2, 3…………………………………Mabon, 1, 2, 3………….

……….Imbolc 1, 2, 3……………..Samhain 1, 2, 3…………….

………………………….Yule 1, 2, 3……………………………

Blessings, 1, 2, 3.

Yule/Winter Solstice: Yule is the time of the rebirth of the Sun from the depths and darkness of Winter, and so these three cards indicate what will be born into the querent’s life during this year, the new beginnings and projects, or the sudden birth of ideas, feelings, and aspects of the self.

Imbolc: Imbolc is the time of the first stirring of the earth from beneath the Winter snows, and the rekindling of the flame of life. These three cards indicate what will begin to grow in the querent’s life in the coming year, but will not bear fruit fully for quite some time; what will bud but not flower, what is in the very first stages of creation, and what will ‘simmer under the surface’ in the querent’s life.

Ostara/Spring Equinox: This is the equinox, so it is a time of balance. These three cards indicate that which will bring the querent’s life into some sort of balance during the coming year, and keep the querent in balance and moving towards their goal. 

Beltane: Beltane is May day, a time for sexuality and passion. As such, these three cards indicate the passions that will come into play in the querent’s life this year, and how the querent’s life will grow as a result. These cards also indicate that which they will love most this year and give most attention to, and that which will ‘fertilize’ his or her life and make him or her grow (physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually) during the coming year.

Litha/Summer Solstice: Litha, or the Summer Solstice, is the time when the Sun is at its peak and is highest in the sky. As such, these three cards indicate the querent at his or her peak in the coming year, and the projects/events/ideas that will reach their peak for the querent. It can also indicate the best part of the year, the achievements of the year, and the full fruition of plans in the querent’s life.  This is the querent and his or her life, at its best. 

Lughnassad: Otherwise known as First Fruits or Lammas, Lughnassadh is the beginning of the harvest. These three cards indicate that which will come to bear fruit this year in the querent’s life, but will not quite be ready for a full harvest for a while. (Notice this is the opposite festival of Imbolc, where the flowering is delayed.- the opposite in some way to harvest being delayed.) These cards indicate the projects or aspects of the querent’s life that he/she is beginning to see the fruits of his/her labors in. The rewards are starting to show themselves, but they are not quite ready to be grabbed fully yet!

Mabon/Autumn Equinox: Mabon, the opposite of Ostara, is the middle of the harvest, as well as another time of balance. It represents bounty and joy, and that which will be bounteous in the querent’s life in the coming year, and that which will bring joy and cause for celebration. These cards can also indicate the full harvest the querent will reap from their past ventures and hard work. 

Samhain: Traditionally, Samhain is the end of the harvest, when the ancients culled their herds. As such, these three cards indicate what will die in the querent’s life this year, what will come to an end, and what he or she will cull from his/her life. It will also include what the querent will get rid of because it is no longer necessary.

Blessings: A nice way to end the reading is to make three blessings from three cards. These cards can represent advice for the querent, or it can indicate what is ‘on the querent’s side’ during the year, helping and keeping him or her going. 

The article that Nic and I wrote, “Queens of Heaven and Earth: Archetypes of the Divine Feminine” can be found on page 20 of Conjure Magazine, Issue 1, and explores the archetypes and facets of the feminine divine in myth, with reference to Tarot. The piece is also illustrated with four cards from our forthcoming Tarot deck, “Pistis Sophia: the Goddess Tarot”. It is followed by a fun Tarot spread for readers to try – “The Patterns of Relationship Spread”, which examines any kind of relationship, whether it’s romantic or business, using the various archetypes of the divine feminine.

So, go ahead and have a read, not only of our article and my Tarot spread, but the entire magazine! It’s filled to bursting with awesomeness, and is set to offer something completely unique in the field for years to come. And don’t forget, if you like what you see, subscribe for future issues, and support this brilliant publication.

The four suits of the Tarot represent the four aspects of the self:

• Cups – Social/Emotional self
• Coins – Physical/Mundane self
• Wands – Magical/Energetic self
• Swords – Intellectual self

They are also associated with different types of skills in Renaissance. Every character must start by ranking the suit they wish to be highest in their character’s personality. For instance, if you want to create a charlatan and confidence trickster, you may wish to place Cups as your highest ranking aspect, followed by Swords, then Wands, then Coins; alternatively, if you wish to have a knowledgeable, intellectual character, you may wish to place Swords as highest ranking, followed by Coins, then Wands, then Cups.

When you have assigned a rank to the four aspects, you assign starting skill points as follows:

• Highest – 20 points
• Second Highest – 16 points
• Third Highest – 12 points
• Lowest – 8 points

Any skill cannot be raised higher than 9 (1 point = 1 rank in the skill). You may have as many skills as you like at the start of the game, but remember that it may be better to have a few excellent skills than many low-ranking skills.

You can have any skill you wish (at the GM’s discretion), as long as it is appropriate to the setting of Renaissance. This can include specific skills such as “Etiquette of the Upper Classes”, “Knowledge: Religious Institutions of Bologna”, “Craft: Venetian Masquerade Mask”; or general such as “Fencing”, “Persuade”, “Knowledge: Music Appreciation”.

To pass a skill check you must draw a card from that suit’s pack. A card equal to, or less than, your skill succeeds. A 10 will always fail. An Ace gives you a chance of a critical success – you can draw a second card, and if that is also a success then you have a critical success. Opposed checks between players, such as in combat, will give success to the highest pass using this method. The difference between both results dictates, for the sake of colour, how well one player succeeds in comparison to how poorly the other fails.

As you increase with each level, you will gain skill points to spend as such:

• Highest – 10 points
• Second Highest – 8 points
• Third Highest – 6 points
• Lowest – 4 points

You also receive, at the start of character creation, an extra 16 skill points to spend in any of the bonus skills dictated by your Personality Type (see previous blog for Personality Types and their associated bonus skills.)

Beyond that, Renaissance can be played and GMed by anybody. The two blogs posts are the only rules you’ll ever really need. Go, play, have fun.