Symbol Library: Tarot Realizations: by Bill Vincent
I’d like to take a few moments to talk about my favorite aspect of Tarot, the one thing that keeps me completely dedicated to the cards. Yes, they can be used for divination and can be used lightheartedly or seriously, depending on the situation. They are fun to work with, and fun to collect. But really, the most fascinating thing about Tarot, to me, has to be the symbolism. We are surrounded every day with symbols. You can’t even escape them if you were to move far away from our modern world, because symbols appear in nature as well as in our materialistic world. Symbols captivate us they catch our eye and we subconsciously notice them, sometimes without even being aware that they are impacting us. Even colors by themselves are symbols that have multiple associations and meanings.
Tarot is so compelling to me is because each and every Tarot deck is like a huge reference library completely chocked full of symbols and accumulated knowledge! Each and every card contains enough symbols to dedicate endless hours of study to the meanings, attributions, and correlations that the symbols carry. Not only can you study the symbols and come up with your own meanings, but you can delve into the history of the symbols for a whole different approach. This type of study has led me into all kinds of research that I never would have otherwise been particularly interested in, but now consider a wonderful journey of discovery. Stuff like mythology, archeology, ancient religion, art history, and all kinds of other areas of exploration. And all of this is really only one aspect of Tarot the intellectual history.
What is even more compelling is that because the deck is comprised of symbols, they never get stale, they never age. The symbols retain older meanings and collect new ones as well. There is always more to learn, always more to see. If one deck starts to get too familiar, all you have to do is go out and spend $20 and you have a brand new library, begging to be discovered and researched. There is truly no end to the wonderful study of this immense treasury of symbols.
I know that it’s sometimes easy to get into a routine with the cards, doing certain spreads, thinking about the cards in specific ways, and maybe even becoming somewhat casual about them. However, sometimes all it takes is for a paragraph in a book or a comment from another Tarot lover to snap you out of that routine. Suddenly the stunning, overwhelming power of symbols reach out yet again and capture your mind as if it were the first time you’ve ever laid eyes on them.
With that in mind, I hope I’ve sparked something in you through these words that will cause you to take out your cards and look at them again for the first time. Put aside all of the thoughts around what you know of the card’s meanings, and let the symbols talk to you again as if you didn’t know them at all. I’ll bet you’ll be surprised at what they tell you. Take a week and really focus on one particular card, write down everything you can about that card, everything that the card is saying to you. Carry it with you. Let the energy of the symbols work their magic on you all over again. I guarantee you’™ll be excited by new insights. For around $20 dollars you’ve bought a lifetime membership to the knowledge filled, wisdom-infused library of Tarot. Open 24 hours a day, every day of your life that you choose to visit. If you get lost, just use the card catalog.