I love my tarot, and a side of it which I find extremely fascinating is how it can be whatever you need it to be. It can be a divination tool, it can support self-development, or it can help you navigate the intricacies of day to day life.
And I think we really need that. There are moments when you are all alone with your head buzzing with good or bad things, in urgent need of a way to quiet the mind and restore some order.
Also, sometimes we cannot express what is inside, not even to ourselves, and having a tool that easily connects to our psyche and can give use something to go on, is priceless.
If you have learnt about the tarot is great but if you haven’t it is great also, because the archetypal nature of the tarot makes is open to absolutely everybody interested in using it.
Plus, if you are passionate about something, have a search, there is a chance there might be a deck created around that. There are so many gorgeous decks out there starting from the Rider-Waite-Smith, which makes them easy to recognize and work with.
An amazing book I wholeheartedly recommend is Mary K. Greer’s Tarot for your self, it is an oldie but goodie, an important work that contributed greatly to the way the tarot is perceived and used.
It is one of the books I study from, as it is that kind of workbook that needs to be taken slowly and understood, it has exercises and prescriptions.
For example, (I opened the book at random, as I wanted to give you a bit of information on the spot about the book.) it has a chapter dedicated to Dealing with Moods, Emotions and Relationships. In this chapter the author provides actual exercises that you can do with pen and paper to support you when facing difficult times.
It opens with an exercise that you can use when your mood is a bit low.
At the end of each chapter there are items suggested for further reading, if you are interested to grow your knowledge about certain techniques or pieces of information.
I think on a certain level I always had a soft spot for the tarot.
I remember when I was a teenager Cosmopolitan put out an edition that had a Major Arcana Cosmopolitan deck. The cards had a lovely matte finish and they depicted Cosmo women for all the cards. The drawings had vibrant colors and amusing images. I loved those cards so much, sadly I do not know what happened to them over the years.
Happily, now, I have other cards I love and enjoy, it is a really good time to have an interest in the tarot as the resources out there abound. Of course this means that there is a lot of noise out there also, but with patience you can sift through it to find the really good resources.