The Tarot: A Mirror of the Soul

The system of using Tarot cards to shed light on one's life path and open up to the wisdom within has often been dogged by superstitious fear and misunderstanding on the part of people who view it as an unsafe, occult practice. This is unfortunate, because the cards can play a role, much like our own dreams do, in showing us our inner state of being and the circumstances that we're attracting and drawing into our lives. One could say that drawing Tarot cards is no more dangerous than looking into a mirror. The difference, in this case, is that the reflection we see is not of our physical body but rather of our soul.

More and more Western minds began to open up to the idea that ancient oracles like the Tarot and I Ching could be useful tools for exploring the unconscious thanks to the work of the psychologist Carl Jung - particularly, his concept of synchronicity. Synchronicity basically means meaningful coincidence, a correlation between movements in a spiritual vein (what might be called "inner events") and events in the outer world. If we believe in such a concept, then it becomes possible to see how a seemingly random action like the drawing of a card can really have relevance for us - because nothing in life is, in fact, random. What we encounter in the world "out there" is meant to show us what we're carrying inside ourselves.

The system of the Tarot takes this a step further, providing a wealth of symbols and images that are intended to reflect the whole breadth of human experience and every circumstance that we might face on life's journey. Armed with such a tool, we can willfully invite synchronicity into our lives by letting the cards speak to us (in symbolic language) and tell us where we're been, where we are, and where we're heading.

Tarot cards can do this job for us most easily if we're able to shed our limiting beliefs about our own minds and souls and open up to the idea that knowledge can, perhaps, come to us in ways other than strictly through our intellect. Drawing the cards should be approached in a spirit of play. We are, after all, simply taking a look at ourselves, not dabbling in some form of arcane witchcraft.

In the end, what we learn is dependent upon how much we're really willing to listen. If we don't like our physical appearance, it would be silly to blame the mirror that we're looking into. Would it be any more sensible for us to resent a tool whose purpose it is to reflect back to us the condition of our souls?