Annie J Dahlgren
Find clarity through the
language of Tarot
What is Tarot?
Practically speaking, Tarot is a language. In the same way that hieroglyphs use symbols to represent words, syllables and sounds, Tarot uses symbology to represent concepts, emotions, impulses and desires. The images can be learned and understood, approached as any language study would be, in this case by learning or referring to generalized meanings of the individual cards. Universal Intelligence, Spirit, God, Mother Earth, Higher Self, Higher Power, Source – whatever your preference – uses this language to communicate guidance and reassurance by impressing images, impulses, intuition and desires into our energy fields. These impressions can many times be misinterpreted, misunderstood or missed entirely.
When a Tarot Reader reads for themselves or another, sufficient facility with the language is present, typically in addition to intuitive and empathic tendencies, so that the symbols take on nuanced and contextual meaning and can be used to investigate concepts and interpret feelings. Spirit often takes full advantage of the opportunity to communicate so directly and clearly.
How Can Tarot Help Me?
When we receive energetic impressions through Universal Intelligence, they flow through our personal energy centers in a particular way, experienced as images, impulses, intuition and desires. We ascribe language to some, but not all, of these impressions, intentionally or otherwise. Thoughts and feelings then engage, emanating from our energetic centers, out to the world around us. It can be instructive and useful to know what we are taking in and what we are letting out, so that understanding and connection with ourselves and others can flourish.
During a Tarot reading, there can be an experience of hearing something that you intuitively know to be true. When information resonates fully, the feeling is similar to hearing your own heartache expressed perfectly in the lyrics of a song, seeing a past humiliation acted out on the screen or reveling in a story of triumph over tragedy that you share with a character in a book. The resonance of experiencing emotion while by-passing the analysis of the thinking mind is liberating and empowering in very personal ways.
If I see a different reader will the message be the same?
Very unlikely. Readers are typically empaths, and often possessed of psychic abilities that expand over time, as with any other skill. Approach and technique vary wildly. The capacity to read Tarot exists in us all, as does the aptitude to learn to swim for example, though some have no desire to pursue it at all while others earn medals as they master the skill. A reading should also be viewed as an exchange of energies. If the one sitting for a reading is skeptical and withholding of their energies, it will, of course, color the outcome of the interpretations.
I Don't Want to Know When I'm Going to Die!
Tarot is not fortune telling. Impressions communicated through the reader are currently present. They may be lingering from the tail-end of a recent experience, being activated for something coming around the bend or could even belong to another, taking up residence in our energetic sphere. These energies attract and repel according to Nature’s Physical and Spiritual Laws, such as Attraction, Projection, Attachment, Karma, Healing and dozens of others, so it can be useful to have guidance from one acquainted with these laws when interpreting Tarot symbology. One can draw conclusions about where current impulses may ultimately lead, but free will governs all, and there are simply too many variables in play to accurately predict the future.