The Art of Tarot:
How to Use the Tarot Deck to Create Your Ideal Future

BY JENNIFER SODINI

photo: kyknoord

Editor’s Note: The tarot is a deck of typically 78 cards that came into popular usage in 15th century Europe. Its exact origin is unknown but it quickly spread as a tool for

divination or seeing into a person’s future. However, most scholars and modern teachers agree that the cards have far more value as tools for self-reflection and self-actualization. We believe that at its essence, the tarot is a tool for more deeply understanding yourself.

Each card has a highly symbolic picture or painting that is an artistic representation and interpretation of some aspect of ancient philosophical and esoteric wisdom. Because the brain codes much of its information symbolically, it is believed on a very practical level that these cards can trigger a deeper understanding of ourselves, along with our present, past and future situations. They helps us find new meanings and interpretations of events and circumstances in our lives and serve as a catalyst for positive change. In a more mystical sense, they can trigger various archetypal and metaphysical energies within us that can be useful tools for healing and navigating one’s life.

The tarot deck is used similarly to the I-Ching wherein a question is posed and then cards are drawn. The reading of the cards is often based on traditional interpretations, although it is very common for people to draw their own meanings and insights into the question at hand.

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

– lao tzu

The major and minor arcana of the tarot are 78 cards that are essentially tools to explain the archetypes of personality and the human experience. A common misconception is that the tarot is a mystical medium that divines your future, as though the future is a fate sealed in stone.

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This idea can be dangerous because there is a fine line between prediction and manifesting. If your thoughts create your reality—implanting a thought of a “prognosis” for the future, can lead you to invest emotionally in the result, and attach energy to the thought, which can then signal a “dent” in time to create the result, instead of the result existing to begin with. However, if you look at the tarot as a means to temporarily “time travel”, the medium can give you a glimpse into a possible future result by what your thoughts are projecting. If all time is happening at once, and all that ever was will be, and all that ever will be was—the future is completely malleable, because you control your reality. If you wish to change your future, change your thoughts…and to change your thoughts, you must first identify them.

“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.”

– carl jung

All that we experience outside of ourselves comes from within, all that is within manifests without. Unfortunately, at times, the hardest thing to do is to identify why we may be feeling a certain way or why we are attracting experiences that don’t feel in alignment with our desires, because ego can block our signals from the soul. This is where the tarot can be the ultimate resource in your spiritual “tool kit”. The tarot allows you to subtract ego, by allowing what is within to manifest from the imagery/intention of the cards (the with-out). There is nothing magical or mystical about the cards themselves, it is all the energy that comes from you by projecting your intention, and allowing “guidance” to come through.

The 22 cards in the major arcana begin with The Fool card, and end with The World; all cards in between are the holographic aspects of the human mind, which illumine as they illumine within you. To understand the world, there are certain things you must experience, that don’t come from comprehending a book. The cards are tools, which facilitate a higher understanding of your experience on your journey to understanding the way of the world.

For example, if you were to read yourself, the best course of action would be to ask why you’re attracting an experience or how to attract a better situation—as opposed to asking what is going to happen. The “what” is the illusion, the “why” and “how” are your truths. When the cards fall, read them with the understanding that the meaning is only to serve as the temporary imprint you’re creating in your reality.

Understanding that you are the maker and creator of your own destiny, and allowing the tarot to give you insight to form a better future, can empower you and ignite your inner light, which illuminates the path ahead and facilitates a better understanding of not only the world, but your world as well.

About The Author

Jennifer Sodini is a born empath, and spiritual intuitive that has been a life-long student of conscious enlightenment. Her grandmother taught her Tarot at the age of 8, and submersed her in the mystic side of art, music, culture, and spirituality. In 2013 she founded the website www.evolveandascend.com, and is the author of a children’s book on consciousness entitled, The Unity Tree.