Each week I pull cards to inspire contemplative practice. In 2011, I started using the Gaian Tarot as a prompt for practice as its minor cards showed such clear images of people engaged in practices that grounded and connected them to earth, to spirit, to the Whole. The method evolved to use the majors as path cards and the people as posture/attitude cards, and for a couple of years I posted weekly on the Gaian Tarot Circle. You are invited to use the cards below to inspire your practice, and, if you like, share your reflections in the comments. You are also free to draw your own cards.
PATH: Use Pile 1 / Majors and Aces to pull a card for the question: What sacred path would best serve the group this week? THE MAGICIAN invites us to walk this week on pathways of …
- Starting another turning of your life’s spiral where you have the potential to use everything you’ve learned do far to create magic.
- Opening doorways between the physical world and the spirit world.
- Letting the creative and mystical energy of the universe flow through you and move into physical form (perhaps into art work you create, a child you nurture, a garden you plant, a fire you light).
PRACTICE: Use Pile 2 / numbered cards for this question: What contemplative practice will best serve us to move along this pathway this week? NINE OF WATER invites us to practices such as …
- Sing or chant (in your own shower is a perfectly fine place do this) and let the emotion that arises flow out of and wash over you.
- Visit a cave, if possible by the ocean, and tune into the emotions that you feel as you explore it.
- At the end of each day reflect back and seek out the moments when you felt a surge (or whisper) of wonder or joy, no matter how fleeting.
POSTURE: Use Pile 3 / People cards for a question such as: What attitudes and behaviors will be most helpful to me in undertaking this practice? GUARDIAN OF FIRE invites you to follow your path and practices with attitudes of ….
- Gentleness
- Faithfulness
- Attentiveness
- Compassion for others and for yourself
OVERALL MUSINGS: The cave is the symbol calling my attention from these cards; both the Magician and the 9 of Water woman stand in a cave and even our Guardian stands in a dark place. The cave is a passageway between worlds and our earliest ancestors decorated caves and are thought to have used them as sacred sites. The cave is like a womb; we wait in the dark and are nurtured by the divine feminine. We must be patient, we might be tested, but if we surrender to this dark power, we will learn what we need to be re-born. This seems appropriate for our Northern Hemisphere January stasis. What is the cave that you might enter? A trip to an actual cave? Or coming home to contemplative time at night instead of going out? Turning your attention inward and letting some new message float up in your consciousness? This pause just might be the beginning of something magical.