ExercIse One

Face value
This is an easy exercise, but it is also the most important part of your journey along the path which is
the Tarot, so please do this one often, even long after you have "mastered" the meanings and hidden
wisdom of the Tarot. Regardless of what you read anywhere, including in the pages of this book, the
most important meaning you can discern from the Tarot is the one that resonates within you. Nothing
else matters. That is why Tarot cards have images on them. Visual symbols provide an immediate
stimulation of your subconscious mind that written descriptions cannot achieve.
You are impacted and affected by what you see, so rather than allowing your knowledge of the Tarot
to become little more than a knee-jerk reaction to the writings of some long-dead "authority" of
mysticism, we want you to see with your own eyes first. This skill is vastly underrated by too many peo-
ple, but it is the fundamental talent of the grand master (shhl Don't tell anyone we told you that- you
aren't supposed to learn that until year 7 of mystery school). What makes a "master" just that is their
ability to combine traditional scholarly knowledge with ageless wisdom (which we can all use some
of), and their finely attuned instinct to know what the best course of action is at the moment. This
is true of any profession, and most especially true in the esoteric sciences. So the easiest and most
direct path is to start training you to trust and sharpen your instincts from the very beginning, rather
than try to force you to learn a set of rules and dogma in a sterile environment. Look at it this way:
Long before you learned vowels and consonants, you knew what an apple was, or what flavor of ice
cream you liked the best. Labels are identifiers; they are not the object itself. That being said, let's
start with the objects. We will begin with the so-called "minor" Arcana.
Dig out your cards, and if they are not in order, please take a moment to put them so. Make five
piles: One for each suit, or house, and one pile for the "major" Arcana, which you can simply toss
haphazardly in no particular order. They are not important right now. Sort out each of your suits
Ace through 10 and then Page, Knight, Queen, and finaIIy King.
Now pick up the suit of Wands. If you are using a different deck than the one we use to illustrate
this book, your deck may use any of the following terms: "Rods, Slaves, Clubs, Sticks, etc." Once you
have the right suit in your hand, please proceed.
Starting with the Ace of Wands, look at it and ask your mind what it sees. If you were standing in
that picture:,. how would it affect you? You can describe the image to yourself ("1 see a hand holding
a stick-so what?''), or you can focus on any symbols you happen to be familiar with. The image may
be static, or in this case, the falling leaves may indicate that the stick is being shaken, as in the term
"shaking the tree." It's all very personal and highly individual. All that matters is that you look at the
card and see what it says to you.
If any particular card makes an impression on you beyond what is in the picture, that is good as well.
For example, if the Ace of Wands says to you, "God's got his thumpin' stickl" that is just as valid as
any interpretation you will ever read in a book, for it is your mind processing the visual stimulus to
create a sense of meaning and order from the card. This is the purpose of the Tarot in any case.
So, on to the next card. Take a look at the 2 of Wands. That's the one with the man standing between
two sticks, holding a globe. What does that say to you? What does it look like he is doing? Why would
he possibly do that anyway? If you were standing next to him, what would you ask him? What is he
looking at anyway? Is he planning something big? Can you tell who he might be in society (a mer-
chant, a guard, a king, a thief ... ) by the way he is dressed and what he is doirJs?
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Go through the rest of the suit of Wands, examining each card casually for as long as you like.
Generally we recommend no more than 2-3 minutes per card your first few times through. You can
even "spot" read them, forcing yourself to look at them for only 10-15 seconds before flipping them
over and asking yourself what you just saw, and what it means to you at face value. Remember,
opinion is as valid "expert's" you will ever meet. Other people can enhance your under-
standing of what you experience, but no one can dictate what you see and feel. When you feel
comfortable, go through the rest of the suits, lOOking at each and asking each card who it is and
what it does. Start with the Cups, then the Swords, and finally the Coins (or Pentacles). Don't push
yourself too hard, but try to do this at least once a day over the next few weeks.
A quick note on "Pentacles." No matter what your deck calls them, see them as :wId coins, not as reli-
gious or magical symbols. The seditious act of changing coins into pentacles in the circles of the suit
of Coins was a whim of an artist long ago that detracts from the meaning of which is
"money." Instead they look like wooden pagan symbols painted yellow, which makes interpretation
needlessly confusing and counterintuitive. Adding "stars" to the suit of Coins has served no purpOse
except to confuse and intimidate the public, and of course to enrage conservative Christian sects in
the twentieth century (which is always fun). When you create the art for your own personal deck
one day, you can add pink fuzzy bunnies if you like to your coins with no ill effects. In any case,
please proceed with your glances at each individual card of the "minor" Arcana, suit by suit, asking
yourself what surface impressions you get from each card.
Okay I did that . .. now what?
Hopefully now you have gone through each of the suits, 1 through 10 and glanced at the royal family
of each suit. You should see the subtle themes of each suit starting to form, and the differences
between the royal families. Now pick a suit and layout all fourteen cards of that suit. If you have the
space available, toss the royal family down in order (Page, Knight, Queen, King) and make either two
horizontal rows of five cards each, or one long row of ten cards with the rest just below the court
cards. In either case, put them in order from Ace to 10. Leave the "major" Arcana off to the side for
right now. Do any patterns jump out at you? Do you see any themes'! It's okay at this moment if you
can, or if you can't. At this point we are just glancing at the cards as a group and seeing if anything
jumps out. If not, pile them back up in order and set them aside and do the same with the rest of the
suits. If you would like an example of what we mean, please see the shaded box below. Our example
theme below is entirely optional, and should not impede your personal conclusions.
Throughout this book we will consistently admonish you not to accept other people's interpretation
of the Tarot cards as your own unless you agree with their perceptions, and even then we strongly
encourage you to remember that meanings change from reading to reading. Listen to your teachers
but hold random opinions you hear or read in polite contempt until you have had an opportunity to
verify them for yourself. The very worst thing you can do to yourself is to accept any teaching as
sacred and sacrosanct, above questioning. The sooner you learn this and adapt to the liquid nature
of the Tarot, the easier (and more accurate) your readings will be. Modern "traditional meanings" are
nothing more than a confusing amalgamation of centuries of opinion and interference by countless
"experts," much of which is highly contradictol)'. Keep studying, keep practicing. Perhaps one day in
the near future Yill! will rewrite the ''true meaning'" of the Tarot and we will all have to listen to you
as "the preeminent authority."
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Exercjse One vjsual examples
>-Jere are a few visual examples with some thoughts on what the cards might be saying at first blush,
These are in tended only as an aid to those who are having difficulty with this exercise. Please do not
a low these examples to cloud or distort your own unique perceptions.
T!liss u)' looks likc he is tlying
',' hold onto his mOllcy and
,ilow off how wealthy he is al
ihe samc time,
This card looks pretty happy
Falllily, nicc house with l ots of
land, even a rainbow, Looks
like Ihey got whal Ihcy wanl ,
Whal a jerkl li s beld enough
10 bully people, but 10 stand
alld gloal over Ihem <IS welI
won't makc you !III)' friends.
And here are three cards jn sequence, , .
(make up your own intetpretations jf you like)
So much fightillg here!
Nolice Ihat evelyone has
Ihcir own !ilke on Ihillgs,
z ,
Wcil, looks like this guy
wall. Now he is Ihc killS
of Ihe hiil for a l i1lle
Well, Ihat didn't lasl very long,
It seems 1I0W Ihal evclyone
wants 10 !ilke him on
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Exercise ""lA"
Looking b e ~ o n d uface value"
(Please get out your study deck.) This is a good exerci se to practice with a friend or two, or in a class.
There are no " right" or "wrong" answers to the questions posed here, merely the value of each
observation in a particular reading. The goal of this exercise is to quickly spot the "face" value of
each card, and then to quickly spot additional implications suggested. Take no more than five seconds
per person. If you see something, give yourself a gold sta r. If not, si mply flip the card and proceed
to the next. In a classroom set ting it is usually best to ask for students to volunteer answers due to the
escalating difficulty with each additional meaning applied. If you happen to be alone at the moment
and want to stretch your perceptive abilities, then simply give yourself a few seconds to "look beyond
the most obvious," but limit yourself to what comes to mind quickly. There is absolutely no value at
this time in adding stress to your studies. Below are a few visual exampl es.
(Person olle:)
Okay, first impression:
Our friend here has
"had enough" and now
he is leaving. He has set
everything in order and
he docsn't even stop to
say goodbye.
(Person two:)
Yes, but look! It 's night!
He's probably skipping
town.
(Person three:)
i thought he was going
hiking actually. See? He
has a jacket, and boots,
and a walking stick
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(Person one:)
This is emptiness of the
soul. It is an allegory of
having wealth without
a deeper connection to
what is most important
in life: health, love, and
a connection to nahlrc.
(Person two:)
r thought they were just
homeless.
(Person three:)
Ow. [got this card once.
Two days laler, my jerk
iandle>rd kicked me 011 1
of the hOllse!
(Person one:)
i dunno . .. It looks like
a I h icf to /li e.
(Person two:)
I got nothing. (g, rrr . . .)
(Person three:)
aut look at those guys in
the background on the
left. They look like the
camp belongs to Ihem.
It seems that somcone is
goofing an-:>lIl1d instead
of doing their job. They
probably should have
had a guard dog rather
thall the lazy bU/li they
hired to watch their
swords.
(Person fOllr:)
No, can't you see? This is the abjeet
failure of religion to attend to the
needs of the poor, the il]jured, and
the dowl1trodden. These are the
~ people religion claims to help
when the church asks you to fork
over your wal/eIT This is the basis
of everything that is wrong with
society, when compassion is jLlst a
marketing tool for greed and a lust
for llnquestionable power-
(Person one:)
f2kfD', r think my beloved activist
giri[riend has had I I wee bit too
much caffeine loday.
(Person two:)
1 wallt <I Pop-Tart . ..