Archived

This Podcast Episode has been archived. It is available for purchase at shop.tarotconnection.net in the Year One Archive mp3 DVD.

Relationship Readings

A relationship reading is the most requested type of reading. My Guest James Ricklef proposes that as a reader we must know one’s self to be able to provide the most helpful reading possible.

There are many ways of approaching a relationships reading. Two really interesting aspects to ponder are “what does love mean to me” and “what is the foundation of my relationship”.

James Ricklef is a Certified Tarot Master — a Tarot reader, lecturer, and writer. For many years now, he has been a recurring workshop presenter at the annual Los Angeles Tarot Symposium (LATS). He has also been a featured speaker at the New York Tarot Reader’s Studio (an annual three-day event) and at the annual San Francisco Bay Area Tarot Symposium (BATS). James is the author of the award-winning book “Tarot Tells the Tale” and of a book about Tarot spreads titled “Tarot — Get the Whole Story”.

• Visit James’ Website
• Read his Haiku Poetry
• Café Press, Zazzle products and Books (including a poster with the Lovers and the rest of the Major Arcana)
• Tarot Affirmations Booklet
• Author Bio at Llewellyn
• Review of Tarot Tells the Tale at Tainted Tarot
  
• Ways to Practice Reading Tarot Cards by James Ricklef
• Tarot & Your Spiritual Path:The Wheel of Fortune Written by James Ricklef

El Diablo by Ginny Hunt

We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell ~Oscar Wilde

There are three Major Arcana cards that routinely tend to provoke quite the freakout: Death (dun dun dun!), The Tower (a rather unwelcome shock), and The Devil. He’s usually depicted in very grotesque form and it’s a natural response to recoil from such nasties. Case in point, here is an image from a very early deck, the Visconti-Sforza, the first “official” tarot card deck made in the mid-fifteenth century. It’s pretty typical devil symbolism what with the goat horns and bat wings, dragon-scaled belly, malevolent face, etc., but what is more disturbing about this card are the children. Good God, will someone not save the children? Actually, I don’t think they’re both supposed to be children, per se, as the female figure has breasts, but the male figure is clearly a boy. And they’ve spouted horns, so apparently they’re becoming that which both lures and repels them. Tied loosely, they seem captivated, willing slaves. The young woman looks freakishly like a Stepford Wife and the devil is obviously the Puppet Master. These kinds of images make one wonder what could possibly be so appealing about the gruesome dude that one would stay, willingly, bound.

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. (read full post)

Hermit’s Journey with Bonnie Cehovet – Symbolism of the Magician

Let’s continue our journey through the symbols of the Magician. There are two sides to every card. To paraphrase Sandra Thomson from “The Heart of the Tarot”, the Magician can be a sacred magician, or he can mesmerize us with illusion and then disappear (in a puff of smoke). The extensive imagery in this card tells us a lot about this gentleman.

This is a very powerful card to have appear in a reading. It indicates that the Seeker has these tools at his or her command, and needs to make best use of them. It is very important to dialogue with the Seeker when giving a reading, to get their impression of the multitude of symbols within this card … to see what draws their eye, and what place this might have in their life.

Music Credits

• Opening Music: time release by the Droney Tones.
• 78 Notes Music: Steamy River by Rhonda Lorence from Winter Moon (Magnatune)
• Hermits Journey: Dark Moon by Suzanne Teng from Enchanted Wind (Magnatune)
• Transition Music: Toccata No 6 in F major by Jeni Melia from the Lost Art of Wooing (Magnatune)
• Closing Music: I’m in Love by Yongen from Moonrise (Magnatune)