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Symbolism, Divination and Intuition

“Intuition is the supra-logic that cuts out all the routine processes of thought and leaps straight from the problem to the answer.”
~ Robert Graves, English Poet and Mythologist

Symbolism, Divination and Intuition

I get many, many emails about tarot interpretations which, along with dream and rune interpretations, seem to be some of the most popular interests of people just beginning to delve into the psychic realms.

The funny thing about them is that they are great door-openers, so to speak, for people looking to begin living with more intuition and who wish to develop their own psychic abilities. And yet, they are some of more widespread blockages that end up standing in people’s way along the path.

I am not saying that I never use these tools, I most certainly do. What I am saying is that people can get so hung up in the interpretation of the symbols, in analyzing the tool, that they forget the actual implementation of it.

Divinatory Symbolism

Symbolic interpretation is a means to an end. It gives you insight by externalizing the search for information. These tools are intended as a means to overstep the guardian Ego, and get it to come along on your search for intuitive or spiritual advice about generally mundane concerns and subjects.

In my work as an intuitive and channel, I have met a plethora of people who are distinctly addicted to divination. They do not make a decision without consulting their cards, or having someone else consult cards for them. And they’re own personal energy or mood is easily changeable based upon the dream symbols, runes or tarot cards that dance before them.

If you are concerned about giving away your power to a tool of divination or to a psychic in particular, have a quick read of Erin’s Pavlina’s article Maintaining Your Power in the Face of Psychic Prediction.

Let me be clear, these tools DO give us valuable information about our path. They do not, however speak in absolutes. They speak symbolically. Thus, by nature, they are a non-direct, nonspecific, source of information. The only knowledge that they can provide is what comes from our understanding of their message and our implementation of it in our life.

What I always tell people is to remember that, without exception, the message provided in dreams or tarot or runes is one that is infinitely changeable. What we are being shown is a likelihood, of what will manifest if we continue on in the situation exactly as we are today, if our actions do not change. If however, or intent and actions or reaction in the situation does change, then so too does the outcome.

Beginner’s Tarot Practice

Why use tarot at all? Do they really serve any purpose in a spiritual life. Well, yes. If your aim is to connect with and begin listening to your own intuition and to begin learning to hear messages from the universe, then tarot can be an exceedingly useful tool.

At first it is, of course, all about a learning curve. Many people begin by using the interpretation provided them in the booklet which came with their deck. This is okay, if you wish. But I was not taught that way. I was taught to meditate on each card to come up with its meaning and to never use the “reversed” or inverted meanings of the cards.

Essentially I wrote my own book for my deck. And different decks can have slightly different meanings.

Anyway, let’s forget where you’ve gotten your interpretations from and just go with: you’re a beginner who has a set of card interpretations.

The first thing is memorize your meanings. Ladies and Gentlemen, you cannot keep pulling out the booklet for every card. If you’re doing this, you haven’t yet learned anything. Knowing the meaning of each card allows you, the reader, to spend your time looking at the actual symbolism displayed on your cards. It also allows you to explain the meaning of each card to the person that you are reading for.

Why do this? Your book already knows the meaning so why should you need to?

Well trust me, it is going to bring you to where you need in order to bring intuition (and hopefully psychic abilities) into the picture.

Bringing in Intuition

Now, lets say that you have done 100 readings using just your knowledge of your card interpretations. Undoubtedly some of them have been fantastically spot-on, touching a chord with both you and others. Also many of them have probably been rather poor, not offering you anything in the way of insight or truth.

Not to worry. You should have a hang of the process and the meanings of your cards by now. So let’s move forward with this skill set…

Now what you need to do is begin focusing more on the intuitive thoughts going through your mind during the reading and also begin trusting these thoughts so that you allow yourself to communicate these feelings to the person you are reading for.

The whole point of using tarot, or any symbolic divination for that matter, is to open up to your own intuition and help you get to a place where you are doing true divination. That is, reading the person and the energy around that person and not reading the cards. The cards are essentially for the benefit of the person who is getting the reading, not the person who is doing the reading.

Begin by trying to incorporate intuitive thoughts or seemingly nonfactual “vibes” into readings for people whom you know really well. This will allow you to simply laugh it off if what you say ends up being completely off the mark. :) But the point is to allow your seemingly random inner thoughts and vibes to be spoken during the reading, to begin trusting the messages coming to you from the spiritual realm.

Eventually you will come to a place where you yourself no longer need the cards and begin to understand that they are simply a tool to help you focus, but are not the focus themselves.

All of things that I write about on this blog, tarot, meditation, exercise, diet, psychology etc., they are all simply tools to help you connect with your intuition and spiritual self. They are not the focus, but a means to the end, for getting in touch with the unseen forces within you and for overcoming the Ego in order to strengthen your innate talents.

Good luck with all your seeking!