Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three, Number 27
July 13, 2003.

In this issue:

1. Editorial
2. Review of "Exploring Celtic Druidism"
3. How to Really Learn Tarot - Part Six

*************************
1. Editorial Comment
*************************
We've been busy uploading new reviews, articles,
and short courses to our website.  We're also
cleaning up files as we go.  It just takes so
long.

In the process of rebuilding our website and
uploading previous articles, we've run into a
few we don't have.  If you happen to have
saved either of the following files, please
let us know:

"How to do One Card Tarot Readings" number 2
and number 6.

Thanks.

We've also been notified that the links to
Gnostic_News don't work for aol members (and
maybe others).  Here's how to get there.  Go
to groups.yahoo.com/group/Gnostic_News just
copy this and put http:// in front of it.
likethis:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Gnostic_News/

You don't need www but you do need the
underscore between Gnostic and News.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

********************************
2.  Review of "Exploring Celtic Druidism
********************************

Conjure up pictures of King Arthur and Merlin.
Become that great magician and see yourself
holding the attacking hoards at bay by sheer
force of will and the magic of the land.  That's
not what it's all about.

The subtitle of this book tells it all: "Ancient
Magick and Rituals for Personal Empowerment."
My review can be found on our website at
http://TarotInstitute.com/reviews/druid.htm.  If
you get lost just follow the links from our home
page to Reviews.

*********************************
3. How to Really Learn Tarot - Part Seven
*********************************
This suggestion is probably a little obvious, but
you'd be surprised at how many potentially good
tarot readers fall into one or more of the following
traps and never recover:

Trap 1 - The tarot reader uses too many tarot decks.

It's confusing to learn to read tarot cards using
one deck.  The more decks you try to use in the
beginning the more confusing it becomes.  Learn
to use one tarot deck very well and learning the
second deck and subsequent decks will be easier.

Trap 2 - The tarot readers uses too many tarot
spreads.

It's hard to learn and remember one tarot spread
and consistently do it well.  Trying to learn and
remember two or more spreads is difficult.  Learn
to use one tarot spread very well in the beginning
and other spreads will be easier to learn later.

My personal suggestion is to learn to do one-card
tarot readings very well before you start using
multiple-card tarot spreads.  Then use three card
or five card spreads before trying the Celtic Cross.

Trap 3 - The tarot reader spends too little time
with his or her tarot cards.

The more you look at, meditate with and study
your tarot cards, the better.  Small chunks of time
every day is better than one large chunk once a
week, in my opinion.

If you only have a few minutes.  Study a small
group of cards each day.  My suggestion is to
study one rank a day for fourteen days and Keys
Fifteen through Twenty-One on the fifteenth day.

When studying the ranks, you'll have five cards
each day.  The Major Arcana (Key) and four
cards in the Minor Arcana of the same rank.
Use Page = 11, Knight = 12, Queen = 13, and
King = 14 for the court cards.

Look at the cards, repeat their meanings, and
momentarily picture them in your mind throughout
the day.  It only takes a few minutes each morning.

Trap 4 - The tarot reader pays too much attention
to what others say and not enough to his or her
own intuitive insights and subconscious mind.

What others say works for them.  Find out what
works best for you.  If somebody has a good idea
you want to use, use it.  Otherwise, use your own
biases and preferences.  Learn tarot your way.
The quicker you decide to do it your way, the
faster you'll become a good tarot reader.

This concludes my discussion on this subject.  My
next topic of discussion will be about Dignities and
I'll call this series of articles "Tarot Dignities."  In
the meantime, have a great week.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the TarotInstitute,
all rights reserved. Tarot News may be used by
teachers to assist students in learning tarot as long
as the source is quoted and students are taught how
to access the Tarot News newsletter on line. Our
web address is http://www.TarotInstitute.com

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 24
June 22, 2003. In this issue:

1. Editorial
2. Updates to Website
3. How to Really Learn Tarot - Part Four
4. Special Announcement

*************
1. Editorial
*************

The unthinkable happened.  My computer hard drive and operating
system crashed.  My backup drive died.  My Eudora E-mail Software is
gone along with my articles and questions and answers.  I write my
articles three-five weeks ahead and keep a file of questions to be
answered in Eudora. Gone.  All gone.  So is my address book. <groan>

So, if you recently wrote me an unanswered e-mail, kindly resend your
questions and comments.  If you recently sent me a file and haven't
received acknowledgement it's been uploaded to our website, kindly
resend that file too.

**************************
2. UPDATES TO OUR WEBSITE
**************************

One of the things we lost when my computer died is a list of all the
new things we've added to the website.  It's all so familiar to me
now I don't remember what's new and what isn't.  Here's a list of
some of the articles, reviews and short courses I think are new:

Review: Exploring Meditation by Dr. Susan Shumsky
Short Course: A Tarot System using Astrology
Short Course: A Tarot System using Numerology
Article: The Paths of Return on the Tree of Life

There may be others, so you might want to check our website at <a
href="http://TarotInstitute.com">TarotInstitute.com</a> and see for
yourself.  I hope you like our new look.  We're upgrading our site
and preparing to move it onto a new server within the next few weeks.

*****************************************
3. How to Really Learn Tarot - Part Four
*****************************************

My previous articles in this series identifies three reasons people
have a problem learning and mastering tarot:

1. They have too many definitions for each card and get confused.
2. They have too many meanings for each position in a tarot spread.
3. They answer everything but the question asked.

The fourth problem that hinders the development of good tarot readers
in my opinion is they don't know how to give a good one-card tarot
reading.  If the card they draw doesn't look like an answer to the
question they posed, they panic.  When they panic they do one of
several things:

1. They answer a different question
2. They imaginatively interpret the card
3. They draw another card
4. They ask the same question again
5. They ask another question.

Probably the easiest thing to do when it looks like the card you
picked doesn't answer your question is answer another question.  It's
easy to think the card is answering another question.  You hear tarot
readers justify this approach by saying the cards don't always answer
the question you ask.  Presumably the cards answer the most important
question in your life at this time.

I don't believe that.  I believe the cards always answer the question
asked.  Maybe we don't understand the answer.  Maybe we don't want to
hear the answer we're given.  Maybe we doubt our ability to interpret
the cards.  Been there, done all of that.  Now I believe the cards
always give me the best possible answer.  Here's an example from my
memory bank:

My client asked me when she'd meet her true love.  I drew the Nine of
Swords which meant "An ending of new ideas."  I stared at that card
knowing its meaning, and also knowing that wasn't an answer to her
question at all.  My imagination traveled all over the place.  I was
looking for any explanation and my mind was blank.

My client interrupted my racing mind by noting the card looked like
an unhappy ending and my panic increased.  I responded with some
inane comment like: "Well, it's not as bad as it looks."

You've got to know I was in trouble with this reading.  I was
panicked -- pure panic.  So she asked the obvious: "What does it
mean?"

I searched my mind for answers and found none.  I let my imagination
loose.  Still nothing.  The look on her face told me to say something
so I said something like: "The Swords are mental cards.  They talk
about thinking, new ideas and new concepts.  But the Nine of Swords
is an ending to this process.  It says that as soon as you stop
coming up with all these thoughts and new ideas, the love you seek
will enter your life."

Thankfully I shut up and started searching my mind for more answers.
I was thinking about telling her the cards don't always answer the
question we ask but they always give us important information.  I was
thinking about telling her that in this situaiton the card meant
something different.  I was still thinking about what something
different the card was telling her, when she said: "That makes sense."

Makes sense?  It made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.

That particular client developed into a really fine tarot reader.  I
never think of her but I think about the cards always giving the
right answer whether we understand it or not.  We both learned
something in that tarot reading.  I dare say I learned the most.

My suggestion to you anytime you have a card that doesn't appear to
answer the question, is to go back to the basics.  Write down the
question.  Write down the card drawn and its meaning.  Tell yourself
or your client what this card usually means.  Then find out how that
answer applies to your life or the life of your client.  I call this
process "Interpreting the Cards."

I believe one tarot card will always answer one question.  We just
have to keep going back to the definition of the card to see how it
answers the question.  Then we have to interpret this answer so it
makes sense to our client.  Unless we just happen to be our own
client, it doesn't matter if it makes any sense to us or not.

You'll be surprised at how often you'll be able to answer your
client's questions, and not understand the answer yourself, if you
just stick to the meanings you've assigned to your tarot cards.  It
happens to me all the time.  I'm in the dark.  My client understands
the answer given by the cards.  That's a good tarot reading in my
book.  It matters only that my client understands the reading.

Since the cards always answer the question asked, there's no need for
panic and no need for the alternatives used by paniced readers.
There's no need for additional cards, repititions questions or other
imaginative techniques.  But, you can alswys have a backup strategy
in case you need it.

Your assignment this week, should you choose to
participate, is to practice answering all kinds
of questions with one-card draws. And in the
meantime, have a great week.

************************
4. Special Announcement
************************

I'm starting to write a series of articles for Universal Seminary in
Yahoo Groups.  It's called Gnostic News and the first issue is going
out next weekend.  It'll be a year-long study on the Tree of Life.
By the end of this corse you'll have several options for continuing
your studies of the Qabalah, Golden Dawn, Gnosticism, Magick and
Alchemy. I'll send you a copy of the first Gnostic News Newsletter so
you can decide if this is something you want to study or not.

Hereafter, Tarot News will be published every other week to give me
time to also write Gnostic News.  The next issue of tarot News is
scheduled for July 6th.  Between now and then we hope to add several
other articles, reviews and a short course to the Tarot Institute
website.

Thanks for taking the time to read this newsletter.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line. Our web address is
www.TarotInstitute.com <http://www.tarotinstitute.com>

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 23
June 15, 2003. In this issue:

1. Questions and Answers
2. Universal Laws
3. How to Really Learn Tarot - Part Three

******************************
1. Questions and Answers
******************************

Q - Your example using a Mind-Body-Spirit tarot
spread is interesting but how would you do this
for a Celtic Cross?

A - First of all, I really wish more beginners
would leave the Celtic Cross alone until after
they learn how to do tarot readings.  In my
opinion, a poorly done Celtic Cross does more to
discourage both readers and clients than anything.
But, here's an example of developing sub-questions
using one Celtic Cross option:

1. (Covers) Why are you asking this question?
2. (Crosses) What problems surround this question?
3. (Beneath) What psychological issues motivate
you to ask this question?
4. (Behind)  What events from the recent past
influence you asking this question?
5. (Above) What higher purposes influence you're
asking this question?
6. (Before) Where are you headed right now if you
continue doing what you're doing?

Notice that the first six cards speak about the
question and do not answer it.  The answer comes
in the last four cards used in the spread.  It is
with these last four cards, in particular, most
authors express their biases and differences of
opinion.  I'm going to use one set of key words
for these four positions in the hopes you can work
out something that makes sense for you with other
names for these positions.

7. (Progress) What is (client) doing now that will
help?
8. (Assistance) What assistance can be expected
from others?
9. (Obstacles) What problems need to be resolved?
10. (Outcome)  What is the expected outcome?

*****************
2. Universal Laws
*****************

One of the most popular series of newsletters I
ever wrote was a series called "The Universal
Laws."  This series was lost until Certified Tarot
Grandmaster Judith Lethbridge came up with a copy
of the whole series.  Thanks Judi.  I appreciate
you sending it to me.

You'll find this complete series in the Articles
section of our website at
http://TarotInstitute.com/articles/law0.html
<href="http://TarotInstitute.com/articles/law0.html>
If you have any problems go to our website,
click on the link to Tarot Articles and when you
get there click on the Universal Laws link.

********************************************
3. How to Really Learn Tarot - Part Three
********************************************

If you've been doing your homework you've
accomplished the following two very important
improvements to your tarot toolbox:  1) You've
identified one key word, phrase or concept for
each card, and 2) You've increased your
understanding about how to use a tarot spread.
This week we'll concentrate on how to improve your
overall approach to doing a tarot reading.

The third most common problem that hinders the
development of good tarot readers is that they
answer everything but the question posed by their
client.  I believe this is caused in part by
numerous nebulous definitions for their cards and
in part because they haven't developed good
one-card tarot reading skills.  The first two
articles in this series addressed those two
problems.

The rest of the story is some readers get so
caught up in the story they forget the question.
If you address the implied sub-questions for each
position in your tarot spread, you'll minimize
this problem.  But, if you'll summarize what
you've already discovered from these focused
one-card readings, you'll eliminate this problem
altogether.  Take the example we used last week:

Q - What does (the client) need to do in order to
attract the right man into her life?

A - Using the Mind-Body-Spirit spread, I suggest
the reader answer three questions:
1. What does the client need to do intellectually
(mentally) to attract the right man into her life?
2. What does the client need to do physically to
attract the right man into her life?
3. What does the client need to do spiritually to
attract the right man into her life?

Now I have three answers to three questions.  All
that's left is to relate these answers to the
original question.  It can be done in three
sentences in this manner:  You need to mentally
(blank) in order to attract the right man into
your life.  You need to physically (blank) in
order to attract the right man into your life.
You need to (blank) spiritually in order to
attract the right man into your life.  Blank is
the answer you received for each sub-question in
the reading.

This summarization is the conclusion of the
reading.  The only thing left is to ask your
client if he or she has any questions about this
reading.  If your client does have a question, you
can either answer it with the cards before you or
draw an additional "clarification" card.

As you can see, this system is very logical.  It
has several purposes and three of those purposes
are to resolve the four largest problems that
hinder prospective tarot readers from becoming
tarot readers.  We've just discussed the first
three.  The fourth is that readers don't know how
to do one card tarot readings.  You can find some
excellent resources addressing this topic on our
website at TarotInstitute.com.  Here's the <a
href="http://TarotInstitute.com"> AOL link to
Tarot Institute</a> and here's the regular link:
http://TarotInstitute.com

Your assignment this week, should you choose to
participate, is to practice answering the implied
sub-questions and the original question for
several questions you pose to the cards.  It's
also a good idea to practice doing as many
one-card tarot readings as you can.  And in the
meantime, have a great week.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line.  Our web address is
www.TarotInstitute.com  <http://www.tarotinstitute.com>

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 22
June 8, 2003. In this issue:

1. Questions and Answers
2. Editorial Comments
3. Review of Tarot Psychology: Birth Cards
4. How to Really Learn Tarot - Part Two

******************************
1. Questions and Answers
******************************
Q - Doesn't it really limit you if you can only
use one word for a definition of each tarot card?

A - Yes, it does and that's the idea.  The better
you define each card the better your communication
with your own subconscious mind.  If you have four
definitions for each card, how do you know which
one to use?  The truest answer is you don't unless
you build a system to do just that.

What I'm proposing is just that kind of a system
for reading tarot cards.  The first step is to
decide upon one key word, phrase or concept for
each tarot card.  The second step is to learn to
use that set of seventy-eight meanings to do tarot
readings.  The rest of the steps to be explained
in this series of articles will explain how to use
up to four different meanings with each card.
That's the system being proposed.  Read about it
and then build your own system for reading tarot
cards.  That's my recommendation.

Q - Can you give us some definitions for the
problem cards?

A - Not really.  My experience is different people
have difficulty defining different cards.  Every
card in the pack is a problem card for somebody.
If you ever have a card which you just can't
define for some reason.  Here's a few suggestions:

1) Look at the card.  Really study it.  Look at
your list of possible meanings derived from a
number of authors.  Look at the card.  Repeat this
process until something clicks for you.

2) Take up your thesaurus and look up all the
words on your list.  Select as many possible new
words from your thesaurus as possible.  Write them
all down.  You can even look up some of the new
words for additional possibilities.  Use this new
expanded list to repeat the first suggestion.  If
you don't have a thesaurus you can find one in the
reference section of your local library.

3)  Look at the card.  What's happening in the
card?  Describe what's happening in the card and
select your key word, phrase or concept for that
card.

4)  Look at the symbols in the card.  What do
these symbols mean to you?  Use these symbol
meanings to select your key word, phrase or
concept.

5) Consider the number of the card.  What does
this number mean to you?  Then consider the suit
of the card.  What does this suit mean to you?
Using this information write down a key word,
phrase or concept.

6) Meditate on the card and/or contemplate the
card until you intuit a key word, phrase or
concept for that card.

7) Ask your Higher Self, angels or spirit guides
for assistance.

**************
2. Editorial
**************
Thanks for all the letters.  I'm a little
surprised at all the interest in the Tree of Life
specifically and the Kabbalah in general.  I've
decided to tape the workshop (but not during the
live workshop) and market the tapes and training
materials through our website.  The price will
depend upon costs but I think we'll have eight
tapes and a loose-leaf notebook for this workshop.
I'll give you more details as soon as we have
something definite to report.

Thanks to Certified Tarot Grandmaster Judith
Lethbridge, the former Editor-in-Chief of the
Tarot Journal, we've uploaded copies of  my
articles that appeared in the Tarot Journal.  You
can access these articles concerning the Tree of
Life and the Wheel of the Year from our website
http://TarotInstitute.com/reviews  (the AOL link
is <a
href="http://TarotInstitute.com/reviews">Tarot
Institute</a>).

Please bear with me as we try to find a way of
writing links to our web page that work with all
browsers.  AOL requires hypertext links be done a
little differently than most servers.  Our server
doesn't like the preferred AOL links.  In trial
runs, placing the AOL link within parenthesis
seems to work.  We'll see.

************************************************
3. Review of Tarot Psychology: Birth Cards
The tarot School Intensives, Part One by
Wald and Ruth Ann Amberstone
a review by John Gilbert
************************************************

I met Wald and Ruth Ann in Chicago several years
ago at a World Tarot Congress.  Aside from Wald's
wit, what struck me most about this young couple
was the depth of their knowledge about tarot,
Kabbalah, mysticism, magic and all things esoteric.

Wald and Ruth Ann own and operate The Tarot
School.  They've compiled and market a remarkably
good in-depth tarot correspondence course,
initiated several teleclasses, set up the New York
Tarot Festival and recently hosted the first
annual "Readers Studio."  Ruth Ann writes the most
popular tarot newsletter on the Internet.  It's called
Tarot Tips and you can find it on Yahoogroups.
mailto:TarotTips-subscribe@yahoogroups.com <a
href="mailto:TarotTips-subscribe@yahoogroups.com">AOL
Link</a>).  You can check out their other offerings
on their website at http://www.TarotSchool.com
(<a href="http://www.TarotSchool.com">AOL Link</a>).

Wald and Ruth Ann launched a year-long Tarot
School Intensive on Tarot Psychology using
teleclasses last year.  The  first intensive was
called "Tarot Psychology: Birth Cards."  I didn't
attend this teleclass but a friend of mine
recently lent me a copy of the audio tapes.  Am
I impressed!

You can read my review of "Tarot Psychology: Birth
Cards" at http://TarotInstitute/reviews  (<a
href="http://TarotInstitute.com/reviews">AOL
link</a>).

********************************************
4. How to Really Learn Tarot - Part Two
********************************************

The largest group of problems that stymie
beginning tarot readers is they second-guess
themselves.  Having looked at a card and having
decided what that card means, the reader starts to
hedge his or her bets by adding additional
meanings to the card.  One of my good friends
calls this the "Badge of an Apprentice."

Apprentices in any field strive to be right.  The
perception is that if they're right they're
learning the trade.  In my experience we don't
learn a whole lot by always being right.  We learn
through our mistakes.  The problem is that we're
often right the first time and we're wrong every
guess after that.  The more we prattle on, the
more wrong we are.  We should be learning a lot.
But unfortunately, most of us don't know it's a
mistake to keep guessing.

In the last issue of this newsletter, my suggestion
for avoiding this problem was to select one and
only one key word, phrase or concept for each
tarot card.  When you start second-guessing
yourself, all you need to do is remind yourself
of the meaning you've assigned to that card.  The
discussion in your head is over.  You know the
answer.

The second largest group of problems that keep
beginners from learning tarot is forgetting the
question to be answered.  They ask the question,
select the cards and talk about the cards but not
about how the cards answer the question at hand.
In my opinion this has more to do with tarot
spreads than tarot cards.

Based on my experience, most beginners fail to
realize the power of a one card tarot reading.
Most of them believe more cards results in a
better reading.  With a poor understanding of how
to do one card tarot readings, more cards never
solves the problem, they only add to the
confusion.  This is a situation where more is
definitely not better.

For example, let's consider the ever-popular
Mind-Body-Spirit tarot spread.  I consider this as
three simple one card tarot spreads and read the
cards accordingly.  Here's how this process works
using a made-up question:

Q - What does (the client) need to do in order to
attract the right man into her life?

A - Using the Mind-Body-Spirit spread, I suggest
the reader answer three questions:

1. What does the client need to do intellectually
(mentally) to attract the right man into her life?

2. What does the client need to do physically to
attract the right man into her life?

3. What does the client need to do spiritually to
attract the right man into her life?

Oh, wow, doesn't that make it easier?  The
three-card tarot spread turns out to be three
one-card tarot readings.  A spread of any length
turns out to be that many one card readings.
That's a fascinating secret very few people really
understand.  Now you're one of them

Notice, my reading of the first card didn't answer
the whole question.  The first card answered the
first sub-question implied by the spread I chose
to use.  And, it answered only the first implied
sub-question.  In effect, the first card only
answers one-third of the question asked.  That's
what tarot spreads do.  Tarot spreads sub-divide
the question asked up into separate parts of the
question.  A one card reading has one answer.  It
answers only one question.

A ten card reading has ten answers as ten
separate sub-questions are being asked by a
ten card spread.  Each card answers only one
implied sub-question.  None of the ten cards
answers the question directly -- unless you
have a position in your spread devoted to that
purpose, the purpose of answering the question
asked.  This card is often called the "Outcome"
card if the question is about the outcome of a
certain action.

In a Past-Present-Future tarot spread, only the
Future card answers a question about a future
event.  By the same token, only the Present card
answers a question about what's going on now.
And, only the Past card can answer: "What
happened?"

Your assignment this week, should you choose to
participate,  is to look at the tarot spreads you
use and practice discovering the implied
sub-questions for several questions you pose to
the cards.  You'll be amazed at how the quality of
your readings improves by using this simple
technique.  If you use a five-card tarot spread,
look for the five implied sub-questions and answer
each of them.  Now you have the five answers to
the original question you expected using this
spread.  Have fun experimenting.  And in the
meantime, have a great week.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line.  Our web address is
www.TarotInstitute.com
(<a href="http://www.tarotinstitute.com">AOL
link</a>).

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 21
June 1, 2003. In this issue:

1. Editorial Comments
2. The Tree of Life Demystified
3. How to Really Learn Tarot - Part One

******************************
1. Editorial
******************************

This series of articles on How to Really Learn Tarot is intended for
students who've been trying to learn tarot for some time without the
success they desire.  New students may find tarot easier to learn using
these techniques.  Oldtimers may get bored or they may find a few tidbits
to help their aspiring students.

One of our recognized tarot experts was recently quoted as saying not
everyone can learn tarot.  This is certainly true for all people who don't
want to learn tarot.  But I believe Henry Ford was right when he said
something like: "If you believe you can, or if you believe you can't,
you're right."  I truly believe you can learn tarot if you want to learn it
and you believe in yourself.  I truly believe you can't learn tarot if you
believe you can't even if you want to learn.

I want to dispel the negative thought form that says not everyone can learn
tarot and replace it with the truth everyone can learn anything they want
to learn.  I also want to dispel the myth some people just aren't
intuitive.  If you have a brain you have a mind.  Your mind remembers
(past), imagines (future), analyzes (present) and it intuits
(timeless).  Everybody's mind does these things.  A few skeptics
notwithstanding, anybody can learn to tune into his or her intuition.  And,
whether we tune into it or not, we are intuitive.  But as Henry Ford said,
if you believe you are, you are; and if you believe you're not, you
aren't.  You're always right because we get to choose to listen to our
intuitive mind or not.

I don't have any idea how many issues it will take to cover this material,
so we'll just get started and see where it goes.  My guess is a minimum of
three issues and a maximum of seven or eight.  But that's just a guess.  If
you have any questions along the way, please let me know.

*********************************
The Tree of Life Demystified
*********************************

On June 21st I'll be presenting a full day seminar on The Tree of Life
Demystified in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  The Tree of Life's been around for
as long as mankind has been writing down its wisdom.  The Tree of Life is
mentioned in the Old Testament, New Testament, Koran, Vedas and
Upanishads.  It's the Tree upon which Odin hung and its the Tree of the
Egyptians, Assyrians, Mesopotamians and Persians.  This is the same Tree of
Life Madonna is talking about publicly this past year or so.

The Tree of Life is often confusing to beginners and old timers
alike.  Authors disagree about what things to attribute to each of the
spheres and paths on the Tree of Life.  They even disagree over the names
of these things.  In this seminar my goal is to demystify the Tree of
Life.  You'll learn how to use the Tree for yourself, how to protect
yourself from negative energy and how to develop your intuitive
faculty.  You'll learn about the ten emanations of creation the thirty-two
paths of enlightenment, the three pillars, three triads and the four worlds.

The cost of this workshop is $75.00 and it includes all materials and a
healthy lunch.  If you're interested in attending and would like more
information, please drop me a line by replying to this newsletter.  If you
might be interested in purchasing the audio tapes and study materials for
this workshop, please drop me a line too.

********************************************
3. How to Really Learn Tarot - Part One
********************************************

In my opinion, the number one cause of difficulty in learning the meanings
of the tarot cards, for most students, is they have too many definitions
for each card.

Have you ever heard a reader tell somebody this card means such and such,
and then proceed to give a number of alternative meanings?  I have.  It
drives me nuts.  It's like a multiple choice test.  Select the best
answer.  Select any answer.  Select anything.  The reader is always right
if there's enough choices to cover all contingencies.

This card means somebody in your life is going to get pregnant.  But it can
also mean a change at work or a career change.  If you're getting close to
somebody, they're not ready to make a commitment.  If you don't have
anybody yet, this card means a new man's coming into your life - but not
real soon.  It also means new ideas coming to you.  If you plan on taking a
vacation soon, this card says you'll have a good time.

Yes, but what's the real answer?

The real answer is this reader is unsure of him or herself and doesn't
believe his or her cards yet.  I mean, how could little colored pieces of
paper with pretty pictures painted on them tell us anything?  The truth is
they can't.  Tarot cards can't tell us anything by themselves.  They need
to be interpreted and that's where we come in.

Here's how tarot works in my opinion:

1. We decide what each card is going to mean.  We make a conscious decision
this card is going to mean this.  We can base this decision on our
experience, the things we've read, the things we see in the card or our gut
feeling.  But whatever we do, the first step is for us to decide what each
card means.

2.  We communicate these meanings to our subconscious minds.  This is the
easy part.  Our subconscious mind remembers everything.  The problem is we
forget.  So to solve that problem, write down the meanings you decided upon
in the first step.  If you forget, you can look them up.  Your subconscious
mind never forgets.  So the second step is to write down your decisions
from step one.  This act alone lets your subconscious mind know you're
serious about your decision.

3. Your subconscious mind takes over from there and arranges the tarot pack
in such a manner that exactly the right card will come up in the perfect
position to answer the question at hand.  This will happen regardless of
who shuffles the cards, and regardless of how the cards are shuffled, cut
and selected.  I used to believe it was important to shuffle, cut and
select the cards in a certain manner.  I'm now convinced it makes
absolutely no difference how you shuffle, cut and select the cards.  Your
subconscious mind will control the operation no matter what you do.  In
other words, the reading will be right in spite of you.  So all you have to
do is the first two steps:  1) define each card, and 2) write it down.

The first secret to really learning how to use tarot is to define each card
with one and only one meaning.  It doesn't matter what that meaning is.  It
can be a word, a phrase, a concept, anything.  It can be something in the
card or not.  It can be something you know or something somebody else
knows.  You can use any system you want to use.  Just decide on one meaning
for each card and write it down.

  From now on, whenever your subconscious mind wants to convey to you
exactly that meaning, it will select that card and present it to you in
your reading.  In my opinion, that's how it all works.

Your assignment this week, if you'd like to play along, is to eliminate all
but one meaning for each of your cards.  Select a word, phrase or concept
and write it down so both you and your subconscious mind agree on that
meaning.  Your subconscious mind always agrees with you, so make a
decision.  Your subconscious mind will agree.  Next week we'll take up what
I consider to be the number two cause of difficulty in learning to read
tarot cards.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line. www.TarotInstitute.com
<a href="http://www.tarotinstitute.com">AOL</a>
Link to Tarot Institute website.

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 20
May 25, 2003. In this issue:

1. Editorial Comments
2. Reviews being posted
3. Astrology and Tarot - Part Ten

******************************
1. Editorial
******************************
It finally happened.  I've run out of easy questions to answer.  What I
have left is a big pile (a very big pile) of correspondence from quite a
few frustrated tarot students.  Unfortunately, the answers to their
concerns and issues are not always easy to give in a few short
sentences.  What I've done is separate these questions, concerns and issues
into piles.  My intention is to spend the next few weeks formulating some
basic suggestions for wading through the quagmire.

This series of articles will be directed toward the student who's having a
difficult time learning the basic language of tarot and the basic skills
for doing a tarot reading.  Those teachers looking for a few suggestions to
help their own students will also be addressed.  The rest of you can either
take a vacation from this newsletter or force yourself to see how lucky you
were to learn tarot so easily.

Sometimes we forget each of us learns certain things more easily than
others.   What I'll attempt to do is give you some ideas about how you can
approach the tarot to learn it more easily.  So starting next week, I'll
launch the next series:  "How to Really Learn Tarot."

****************************************
2. Reviews being posted
****************************************
We're uploading some earlier reviews from the original Tarot News.  It'll
take us a couple of weeks to get them all up on our website at <a
href="http://www.TarotInstitute.com/reviews/>TarotInstitute/reviews</a>.
In the meantime, if you'd like to write a review of a tarot book, deck or
set, please let me know.

**************************************
3. Astrology and Tarot - Part Ten
**************************************
The Court Cards can be assigned to planets, signs or any other astrological
phenomenon that's well defined.  I'm going to take a different tack just
for the fun of it.  I'm going to define the Court Cards to represent
people, young or old, male or female, in the life of the client, who
represent the qualities of the following cards:

1       Page
2       Knight
3       Queen
4       King

The Pages all approach their Elements intellectually and the Knights do it
emotionally.  Queens are in the center of the conflict represented by the
Element assigned to their suit, while the Kings are the center of the
resolution of that conflict.  That's all there is to it.  If I was going to
use reversed cards, which I'm not, I could use the same system suggested
last wee in Part Nine.  Or, I could assign the 5-6-7-8 pip cards to the
inverted Court Cards.

That's it.  That's my new tarot system based on astrology.  Now that you
understand the process, give it a try and create several different systems
for yourself.  Eventually you'll find one that works for you.

The spread I'm going to suggest using with this new system is the Dynamic
Horoscope Spread.  We'll be using twelve positions representing the twelve
houses.  I'll define the houses and positions as follows:

1       Character
2       Money
3       Family
4       Home
5       Relationships
6       Employment
7       Legal matters
8       Investments
9       Education
10      Occupation
11      Associates
12      Secret matters

Prepare the deck in your usual manner and draw twelve cards according to
the method of your choice.  As you read the cards, completely disregard all
cards of the Minor Arcana.  Read only the Major Arcana.  Those are the only
Houses of importance for the reading.  Worst case is you'll have all Major
Arcana cards or none.  Maybe none means there's nothing going on in your
client's life.

This concludes my analysis of astrology and tarot.  Your assignment this
week, should you elect to give it a try, is to  figure out how you want to
handle the Court Cards and decide on one or more basic spread(s) to use
with the system you've created for yourself.  As you work with your system
you'll have some ideas about changing it.  My suggestion is to be flexible
and make as many changes as you want.  Eventually you'll have a system you
like and one that works for you.  Next week we'll start a new project with
How to Really Learn Tarot.  In the meantime, have a great week and enjoy
your studies.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line. www.TarotInstitute.com
<a href="http://www.tarotinstitute.com">AOL</a>
Link to Tarot Institute website.

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 19
May 18, 2003. In this issue:

1. Questions and Answers
2.  Update on website changes
3. Astrology and Tarot - Part Nine

******************************
1. Questions and Answers
******************************
Q - I don't understand the element of Fire.  Will
you please explain this to me?

A - Of all the elements, Fire seems to be the most
difficult for students to grasp.  It was for me.

Fire is the World of Intention.  All intentions
are born in our thoughts (Air) and nurtured in our
heart (Water) before they become a desire (Fire)
in our life.  The only thing left to do is to
actualize our desire, to make it materialize
(Earth) in our life.

Fire is intention.  But it's also desire, drive, passion,
energy and enthusiasm.  Desire to accomplish
something or anything is Fire.  The Drive to get things
done is Fire.  The Passion to do things or something
is Fire.  The Energy to expend on things and people
is Fire.  Our Enthusiasm is our Fire.

On the mundane level, our careers and avocations
are our fire.  The things we love to do, need to do
and want to do are all expressions of our Fire.

When we reach the stage where our thoughts and
feelings create a desire, we open ourselves up to
intuitive insights to help us actualize our Fire.
These intuitive insights really come from the
World of Spirit, but many people consider them
part of the World of Fire for this reason.

Some people call our career the World of Fire, and
consider it a part of the Element of Fire.  I
sometimes use Fire for careers myself.  But the
truth is, our career is our way of making money
and that's all part of the Element of Earth.  To
assign our career to the Element of Fire is
assigning two suits in the deck to Earth and none
to Fire.  That's not wrong.  It's our system so we
can do anything we want.  We just need to
understand what we're doing.

Q - Will you publish some of my previously
published reviews?

A - Yes, if you own the copyright and you send the
review to me.  Yes, if the somebody who owns the
copyright on your review agrees to let you
re-publish that review.  No, if the copyright
owner says: "No, you can't do it."  In that case,
my suggestion is to rewrite your review.  Add and
delete a few things.  Say other things
differently.  Then publish it, but this time
retain ownership of your copyright.  Actually,
we'll do that for you.

Others have asked if I'll publish a copy of one or
more reviews they have on their own websites and
give readers a link back to their websites.  My
answer is absolutely yes.  Send me your review
along with your URL link and I'll be happy to
publish both of them for you.  My suggestion is
you just add a comment at the end of your review
that says: "Copyright 2003 by (insert your name)."
Please don't send me one that says: "copyright
2003 by insert your name."

Q - Has anybody evaluated the different software
available for tarot?  Can you recommend one for me
that has a tutorial?

A - I confess my ignorance about tarot software.
If you have any knowledge about these things, will
you please share it with all of us?  Thanks.  Your
response will be appreciated.

****************************************
2. Update on Website Changes
****************************************
This week we're uploading a series of articles
based on previous Tarot News newsletters.  Thanks
to Darlene Lopez, Debbie Gonzales and Rita Baker
we've recovered some of my old newsletters.  With
any luck we'll have articles from most of these
posted by the end of the week.  They'll be posted
as a series of short courses and articles.  You
can watch our progress on the <a
href="http://TarotInstitite.com">Tarot
Institute</a> website.

As you look over the materials, please let me know
if you find any of the missing files.  It would be
nice to make this archive as complete as possible.
Yes, I acknowledge my own stupidity in not keeping
a copy for myself!  We all make mistakes.  It
won't happen again.  <g>

**************************************
3. Astrology and Tarot - Part Nine
**************************************
Capricorn is the tenth sign in the Western Zodiac.
The Sun moves into Capricorn on about December
21st and remains there until about January 19th.
Capricorn is ruled by Saturn and Mars is exalted
there.  The Moon is in its detriment and Jupiter
its fall in Capricorn.  This means both Saturn and
Mars are positively powerful while Jupiter and the
Moon are weak and negative in Capricorn.

Capricorn is a Cardinal sign in the southeast
quadrant.  This means Capricorn is experiencing
twilight while Cancer is rising.  The Hermetic
Order of the Golden Dawn assigns Key XXI, The
World, to Capricorn.  I'll assign Key XX,
Judgement to Capricorn and define it as being
"Controlled environment."

Aquarius is the eleventh sign of the Western
Zodiac.  The Sun moves into Aquarius on about
Januray 20th and remains there until about
February 18th.  Aquarius is ruled by Uranus and
Pluto is exalted there.  The Sun is in its
detriment and Neptune is in its fall in Aquarius.
This means both Uranus and Pluto are positively
powerful while Neptune and the Sun are weak and
negative in Aquarius.

Aquarius is a Fixed sign in the southeast
quadrant.  This means Aquarius is experiencing
twilight while Leo is rising.  The Hermetic Order
of the Golden Dawn assigns Key XVII, the Star, to
Aquarius.  I'm assigning the Fool to Aquarius and
defining it to be "Controlled thinking."

Pisces is the twelfth sign of the Western Zodiac.
The Sun moves into Pisces on about February 19th
and remains there until about March 20th.  Pisces
is ruled by Neptune and Venus is exalted there.
Mercury is in both its fall and detriment in
Pisces.  This means Neptune and Venus are
positively powerful and Mercury is both negative
and weak in Pisces.

Pisces is a Mutable sign in the southeast
quadrant.  This means Pisces is experiencing
twilight when Virgo is rising.  The Hermetic Order
of the Golden Dawn assigns Key XVIII, the Moon, to
Pisces, but I'll assign the only remaining card,
Key II, the High Priestess, to the Moon and define
it as being "Emotional flexibility."

This completes my assignment of the Major Arcana
to the planets and signs.  Now I have to decide
what to assign to the Minor Arcana.  With four
suits and fourteen cards in each suit, that's
quite an order.  I can choose to assign the signs
to twelve ranks and but leaves me with two ranks
for ten planets.  Maybe I could mess around with
the asteroids or forget some of the planets.
Venus and Mercury are both assigned to two signs,
so they could be eliminated.  That leaves me with
eight planets and eight cards (four cards in each
of two ranks).

The possibilities are endless.  The Hermetic Order
of the Golden Dawn solved this problem by
assigning the ten ranks of pip cards to the ten
planets.  They then assigned the twelve signs to
the three ranks of Knight, Queen and King.  The
Pages ended up being their problem child and they
solved this problem by assigning the Pages to the
four quadrants.  I like the idea of assigning the
pip cards to the planets because I like the idea
of assigning the elements to the Minor Arcana.  It
doesn't make much sense to have all the signs
assigned to each of the four elements.  I just
can't imagine Fire of Pisces or Water of Gemini.

Having made that decision, I now face the same
dilemma the Golden Dawn faced: what to do with the
court cards.  I'll take it a step at a time and do
the pip cards now.  Here goes:

1       Mercury (Intellect)
2       Venus (Feelings)
3       Mars (Conflict)
4       Jupiter (Resolution of conflict)
5       Uranus (Upheaval)
6       Sun (Survival of upheaval)
7       Saturn (Lesson to learn)
8       Moon (Reflect on lesson being learned)
9       Pluto (Prepare for an ending)
10        Neptune (An ending and new beginning)

All the aces refer to the intellectual approach,
twos to the emotional.  Threes indicate a conflict
and fours the resolution of that conflict.  Fives
represent an upheaval or a major conflict and
sixes the survival or resolution of the sudden
change.  Sevens indicate the lesson to be learned
and eights are a reflection on those lessons.
Nines are a preparation for the ending of a
situation and tens are that ending and a new
beginning.  Easy system.

The final decision for me to make is the easiest
because I already have a pretty good idea what
Element I want to assign to each suit.  I'll
assign Pentacles or Coins to Earth, Swords to Air,
Wands to Fire and cups to Water.  I'll define
Earth as money, Air as thoughts and ideas, Water
to feelings and Fire to intentions.  I'm not going
to use reversed cards in this system, but if I
did, I'd assign a different meaning to the
inverted suits.  For example, Inverted Earth could
be material things, Air could be attitude, Fire
career or work and Water raw emotions.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it,
is to assign one card of the Major Arcana to each
of Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.  Then decide
what planet to assign to which pip card.  Decide
also what Element to assign to each suit.  Write
down someplace, preferably in your Tarot Journal,
the definition you want to assign to each card.

Next week we'll assign the Court Cards to
something.  Care to guess what?   In the meantime,
enjoy this exercise and have fun.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line. www.TarotInstitute.com <a
href="http://www.tarotinstitute.com">AOL</a> Link
to Tarot Institute website.

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 18
May 11, 2003. In this issue:

1. Questions and Answers
2. Review of "Tarot of Transformation"
3. Astrology and Tarot - Part Eight

********************************
1. Questions and Answers
********************************

Q - Are you going to upload any of your previous
articles from the old Tarot Instutue Web Site?

A - Yes, if and when we can find a copy.  If you
have a copy of one of my old Tarot Institute
articles,
please send it to me and I'll post it to the web.
No,
I don't have a copy of those articles any longer
and
I can't locate former webmistress Elaine Olson to
see if she might have a copy.  Sorry.

Q - Do people really ask you these questions or
are
you just making them up?  Do you answer them all?

A - I find it quite humorous that all of a sudden
several people are asking this same question. <g>

Yes, other people do ask these questions.  Yes, I
do edit the questions and combine questions when
I think it's appropriate.  No, I don't always answer
all my questions in this newsletter, but I do
attempt to answer all of them.  When I want to
say something I do it as an editorial or as part of
an article.  I don't use this Q & A section for that.

{Editorial: I'm running out of questions to answer,
so if you have a question, please let me know.}

Q - How did you ever come up with the definitions
for the numbers you used for the pip cards?

A - I made it up. <g>  This was and is my system
so I did it my way.

That said, odd numbers are generally considered to
be masculine, to represent outgoing energy.
Outgoing energy is not only expansive, it's
abrasive.  We call that being masculine.  This
causes problems.  All odd numbers seem to have
that ability.  So I call odd numbers "conflict"
and "upheaval" and "endings" and "trouble" and
things like that.

Even numbers are generally considered to be
feminine, to represent incoming energy or passive
receptiveness.  This kind of energy is soft,
soothing and calming.  We call that feminine.
This energy resolves problems.  All even numbers
seem to have that ability.  So I call them
"resolution" and "feelings" and "survival" and
"preparation" and things like that.

As with all parts of this system, you get to make
up your own rules and definitions.  That's the
great secret to really learning something:
Believe nothing of what you see.  Believe nothing
of what you hear.  Believe nothing of what you
experience in the world.  Believe only those
things you know to be true.  This truth is inside
you.  Find your truth and believe in it.  In the
meantime, exercises like Astrology and Tarot (in
ten parts) are here to help you learn the truth
about who and what you really are.  Anyway, that's
my intent...

**********************************************
2. Review of "Tarot of Transformation"
      by Willow Arlenea and Jasmin Lee Cori
      a review by Sheila Hall, CTM
**********************************************
Starting with our last issue, we're posting all
reviews to our website.  To read Sheila's
wonderful review of "Tarot of Transformation,"
please use the following link:

<A href="http://TarotInstitute.com/reviews">Tarot
Institute.com</a>

**************************************
3. Astrology and Tarot - Part Eight
**************************************
Cancer is the fourth sign in the Western Zodiac.
The sun moves into Cancer on about June 20th and
remains there through about July 23rd.  Cancer is
ruled by the Moon.  Jupiter is exalted in Cancer.
Saturn is in its detriment and Mars is its fall in
Cancer.  This means the Moon and Jupiter are both
positively powerful in Cancer while Saturn and
Mars are negative and weak.

Cancer is a Cardinal Sign because it's the first
sign in the northwest quadrant of the Zodiac.
This means Cancer rises after the first three
signs are in full daylight but both Leo and Virgo
are in darkness.  The Hermetic Order of the Golden
Dawn assigns The Chariot to Cancer, but I'm going
to assign Cancer to Key XII, the Hanged Man.  I'm
going to define Cancer as "Emotional power."

Leo is the fifth sign in the Western Zodiac.  The
Sun moves into Leo on about July 24th and remains
there through about August 22nd.  Leo is ruled by
the sun.  Neptune is exalted and Uranus is in its
detriment in Leo.  This means the Sun and Neptune
are both positively powerful but Uranus is
negative and weak in Leo.

Leo is a Fixed Sign because it's the middle sign
in the northwest quadrant of the Zodiac.  This
means Leo rises after Cancer has already risen and
Virgo is yet in darkness.  The Hermetic Order of
the Golden Dawn assigns Strength, Key VIII to Leo,
but I'm going to assign Key One, the Magician to
Leo and define it as "Under control."

Virgo is the sixth sign in the Western Zodiac.
The Sun moves into Virgo on about August 23rd and
remains there until about September 22nd.  Virgo
is ruled by Mercury, though some astrologers
assign it to Vulcan the legendary planet inside
the Sun's corona that circles the Sun once every
thirty days.  Mercury is exalted while Venus is in
it's fall and Neptune in its detriment in Virgo.
This means Mercury is very positively powerful but
Venus and Neptune are both weak and negative in
Virgo.

Virgo is a Mutable Sign because it's the third
sign in the northwest quadrant of the Zodiac.
This means Virgo rises only after Leo has risen
and the zodiacal signs are in darkness.  The
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn assigns the
Hermit, Key IX, to Virgo but I'll assign Key XIV,
Temperence to Virgo and define it as "Giving and
Receiving."

Libra is the seventh sign in the Western Zodiac.
The Sun moves into Libra on about September 23rd
and remains there until about Otober 21st.  Libra
is ruled by Venus, though some astrologers assign
it to Atlantis the mythical planet between Mars
and Jupiter of which there remains nothing but the
asteroids.  Saturn is exalted while Mars is in its
detriment and the Sun in its fall in Libra.  This
means Venus and Saturn are both positively
powerful while Mars and the Sun are weak and
negative in Libra.

Libra is a Cardinal Sign in the southwest
quadrant.  This means Libra is experiencing
twilight while Aries is rising.  The Hermetic
Order of the Golden Dawn assigns Key XI, Justice,
to Libra. I'll assign Justice there too and define
it as "Balanced thinking."

Scorpio is the eighth sign in the Western Zodiac.
The Sun moves into Scorpio on about October 22nd
and remains there until about November 20th.
Scorpio is ruled by Pluto, though some astrologers
still say Mars.  Uranus is exalted while Venus is
in its detriment and the Moon in its fall in
Scorpio.  This means both Pluto and Uranus are
positively powerful while Venus and the Moon are
weak and negative in Scorpio.  Some astrologers
also feel Mars is positively powerful in Scorpio.

Scorpio is a Fixed Sign in the southwest quadrant.
This means Scorpio is experiencing twilight while
Taurus is rising.  The Hermetic Order of the
Golden Dawn assigns Key XIII, Death, to Scorpio.
I'm going to assign Key VI, The Lovers, to Scorpio
and define is as meaning "Emotional bonding."

Sagittarius is the ninth sign in the Western
Zodiac.  The Sun moves into Sagittarius on about
November 21st and remains there until about
December 20th.  Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter
and Neptune is exalted there.  Mercury is in its
detriment and Pluto in its fall in Sagittarius.
This means both Jupiter and Neptune are positively
powerful while Mercury and Pluto are weak and
negative in Sagittarius.

Sagittarius is a Mutable sign in the southwest
quadrant.  This means Sagittarius is experiencing
twilight while Gemini is rising.  The Hermetic
Order of the Golden Dawn assigns Key XIV,
Temperence, to Sagittarius.  I'll assign Key IX,
the Hermit to Sagittarius and define it as
"Conrolled ego."

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it,
is to assign one card of the Major Arcana to each
of the signs discussed in this issue.  Write down
someplace, preferably in your Tarot Journal, the
definition you want to assign to each card.  Next
week we'll assign the rest of the signs of the
Zodiac to the remaining trump cards.  In the
meantime, enjoy this exercise and have fun.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line. www.TarotInstitute.com
<a href="http://www.tarotinstitute.com">AOL</a>
Link to Tarot Institute website.

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 17
May 4, 2003. In this issue:

1. Questions and Answers
2. Review of "Exploring Spellcraft"
3. Astrology and Tarot - Part Seven

******************************
1. Questions and Answers
******************************
Q - I remember seeing "I statements" for each of
the signs.  Do you have a list of them?

A - Here's one list, but there are others:

Aries - I Will
Taurus - I Do
Gemini - I Think
Cancer - I Protect
Leo - I Rule
Virgo - I Analyze
Libra - I Balance
Scorpio - I Change
Sagittarius - I Verify
Capricorn - I Control
Aquarius - I Create
Pisces - I Unite

Q - What do Cardinal and Mutable mean?

A - Cardinal is the fundamental thing in a group
of things.  The primary energy for each Element is
invested in the Cardinal Sign for that element.  The
Cardinal signs are at the Cardinal Points of the
compass in the standard horoscope.  Cardinal
means prime, predominant, basic, main, key and
primary.

The least energy for that Element is invested in
the mutable Sign.  That's because this is the most
flexible, the most changeable sign for that element.
Mutable means changeable, malleable, flexible or
adjustable.

Q - How do you handle Yes-No questions with three
card spread?

A - I like to use upright cards to mean yes and
inverted to mean no.  Three yes cards or three no
cards is a pretty definite yes or no.  Two cards
indicate a yes or no but not as strongly as three
cards would.  I rarely use this approach because
one card tells me the story about as clearly as
possible.

****************************************
2. Review of "Exploring Spellcraft"
a review by John Gilbert
****************************************
Several readers have complained that my
newsletters are getting to be too large for their
email program.  Therefore, effective with this
issue, all reviews will be posted to the website
with a link from this newsletter.

"Exploring Spellcraft" is a book of interest to
any person desiring to help other people get
what they want.  My review is posted at
<a href="http://tarotinstitute.com/reviews">Tarot
Institute.com</a>

**************************************
3. Astrology and Tarot - Part Seven
**************************************

The ten planets have now been assigned to ten
cards of the Major Arcana.  Twelve cards remain.
My decision is to assign these twelve cards to the
signs of the Zodiac.  I could also have assigned
them to the twelve months of the year, the twelve
apostles, the twelve knights of the round table or
any other grouping of twelve things.  But I've
decided to use the twelve signs of the Zodiac.
I'll start with Aries.

Aries is the first sign in the Western Zodiac.
The Sun moves into Aries on about March 21st and
stays there until about April 19th.  Aries is
ruled by Mars.  The Sun is exalted and Venus is in
its detriment in Aries.  Saturn is in its fall in
Aries.  This means Mars and the Sun both are very
positively powerful in Aries while Venius and
Saturn are both weak and negative.

Aries is a Cardinal Sign because it's the first
sign in the northeast quadrant of the Zodiac.
This means the sign of Aries is rising during late
March and early April but both Taurus and Gemini
are still in darkness and will rise later.  All
Cardinal Signs have more energy than both Mutable
and Fixed Signs.  Aries is assigned to the Element
of Fire.  This gives planets in Aries a strong
will to do whatever it is they do.

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn assigns the
Emperor, Key IV, to Aries.  I've decided to choose
Key VIII, Strength, to represent Aries and remove
that card from my tableau of cards left to assign.
I'm going to define Aries as "Will power."  You'll
need to decide what card you want to assign to
Aries and define that card.

Taurus is the second sign in the Western Zodiac.
The Sun moves into Taurus on about April 20th and
stays until about May 20th.  Taurus is ruled by
Venus.  The Moon is exalted and Pluto is in its
detriment in Taurus.  Uranus is in its fall in
Taurus.  This means Venus and the Moon are very
positively powerful in Taurus while Pluto and
Uranus are both weak and negative.

Taurus is a Fixed Sign because it's the middle
sign in the northeast quadrant of the Zodiac.
This means the sign of Taurus is rising during
late April and early May while Aries has already
risen by then but Gemini is still in darkness and
will rise later.  All Fixed Signs are solidly
entrenched and difficult to change.  Taurus is
assigned to the Element of Earth.  This gives
planets in Taurus the energy to manifest
themselves in the physical reality.

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn assigns the
Hierophant, Key V, to Taurus.  I've decided to
assign Death, Key XIII, to Taurus and remove that
card from my tableau.  I'm going to define Taurus
as "Worldly goods."  You'll need to decide what
card you want to assign to Taurus and define that
card.

Gemini is the third sign in the Western Zodiac.
The Sun moves into Gemini on about May 21st and
stays there until about June 19th.  Mercury rules
Gemini.  Uranus is exalted and Jupiter is in its
detriment in Gemini.  Neptune is in its fall in
Gemini.  This means Mercury and Uranus are very
positively powerful in Gemini while Jupiter and
Neptune are both weak and negative.

Gemini is a Mutable Sign because it's the last
sign in the northeast quadrant of the Zodiac.
This means the sign of Gemini is rising during
late May and early June while both Aries and
Taurus have already risen.  All Mutable Signs are
amenable to change easily and quickly.  Gemini is
assigned to the Element of Air.  This gives
planets in Gemini the ability to think clearly and
creatively.

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn assigns The
Lovers, Key VI, to Gemini.  I've decided to assign
the Wheel, Key X to Gemini and remove that card
from my tableau.  I'm going to define Gemini as
"Discriminative thinking."  You'll need to decide
what card you want to assign to Taurus and define
that card.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it,
is to assign one card of the Major Arcana to each
of the signs of Aries, Taurus and Gemini.  Write
down someplace, preferably in your Tarot Journal,
the definition you want to assign to each card.
Next week we'll continue assigning the signs of
the  Zodiac to the remaining trump cards.  In the
meantime, enjoy this exercise and have fun.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line.   www.TarotInstitute.com

<a href="http://www.tarotinstitute.com">AOL</a>
Link to Tarot Institute.

Tarot News is a free, almost-weekly publication of the Tarot Institute.  Our
website is <a href="http://www.TarotInstitute.com">www.TarotInstitute.com</a>

Archives of past issues of Tarot News are available on Yahoo Groups at
<a
href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TarotNews">groups.yahoo.com/group/TarotNews<\
/a>

You may unsubscribe at any time by going to that site and clicking on the option
to unsubscribe.

You may invite friends to subscribe by telling them to go to the Tarot Institute
website and clicking on the subscription option or to send an e-mail to <A
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You may forward this message to your friends.

Thanks and have a great week.

Namaste,
John

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 16
April 27, 2003. In this issue:

1. Questions and Answers
2. Review of "Power of Flowers"
3. Astrology and Tarot - Part Six

******************************
1. Questions and Answers
******************************
Q - Can I use this system for dong tarot readings?

A - If by this system you mean the system you're
creating right now, the answer is absolutely yes.
If you mean the system I'm building for myself as
part of this lesson, the answer is probably no
because you won't understand my system the way I
do.  But the good news is I won't understand your
system the way you do either.  In short, yes, you
can use any astrological system, including yours,
for giving tarot readings.  I recommend it.

Q - Why can't I assign the planets to the Minor
Arcana?

A - You can.  You can also assign them to both the
Major and Minor Arcana.  You can even leave the
planets out and not even use them at all.  It's all
up to you because you're creating your system.

Q - Can I assign the same planet to two cards?

A - Yes, you can.  It's your system, you can do
anything you want.  My suggestion would be to
assign all the positive aspects of the planet to
one card and all the negative aspects to another
card.  But, you can do it any way you want.

By the way, if you do this you'll have two cards
left over.  You'll need to figure out what to do
with these two cards.  Maybe they could be the
North and South Nodes or something.

Q - When you ask us to select a card from the
Major Arcana to be a symbol for, say, the Moon
and then define it with a key word, phrase or
concept, are we defining the Moon as it pertains
to that Major or are we defining the Major itself?

A - I'm doing both at the same time.  You can
choose to do that or either of your options
listed here.  This is your system, do it the way
you want to do it.

Q - I'd like to know why the Golden Dawn chose
the cards/planets/sign assignments they did.

A - So would a lot of people.  My best guess is
the members went through a process similar to
the one I'm suggesting in this series of articles.
To the best of my knowledge, none of the members
of the Golden Dawn ever explained their process
for assigning the planets or signs to the tarot.  If
anyone has any different information, please let
me know.  Thanks.

Q - How can palm reading help me do better tarot
readings?

A - Excellent question!  Palm reading undoubtedly
won't help you do better tarot readings.  What it
can do is help you understand your clients a
little better and give them a little added value
for their money.  It's helpful for me to know how
my clients approach life.  Their hand tells me if
they approach life intellectually (Air), emotionally
(Water), intuitively or imaginatively (Fire), or
concretely (Earth).  Focusing my reading in
these areas often improves my communication
skills with my clients.

Q - How long do you spend reading palms in your
tarot reading?

A - It takes me a few seconds to determine how my
clients approach life because the shape of their
hand reveals this information.  I pretty much do
this with every client without even telling them.
If I do a palm reading at the end of the session,
I do it rather quickly.  I notice two or three, usually
three, major features, point them out and explain
them in a couple of sentences each.  My guess
is my average palm reading under these
circumstances takes three or four minutes.  This
is not an in-depth analysis, just a quick overview.

****************************************
2.  Review of the "Power of Flowers"
       created by Isha Learner
       a review by John Gilbert
****************************************

"Power of Flowers" is another non-tarot deck I use
to give a special message of hope and
encouragement to my clients.  This thirty-two card
deck and small booklet (ISBN 1-57281-196-X) was
created by Isha Learner, illustrated by  Karen
Forkish and published by U.S. Games.  She
describes it as an archetypal journey through
nature.  But, as you may have already guessed,
it's amenable to being a trip through the
thirty-two paths on the Tree of Life as well.

The cards are quite lovely.  While specific
flowers are depicted in each card, Gods,
Goddesses, mythical creatures, elementals, nature
spirits and humans grace these cards.  There's one
exception.  The Alchemy card is a wild card
depicting several different flowers surrounding
Natura the Goddess of nature.  Those who draw this
card are referred to a copy of the Emerald Tablet
in the little white book accompanying the deck.

The background of the cards is blue at the top
fading into green at the bottom.  Within this
background is an arch containing the pictorial
portion of the card.  Beneath the arch is the name
of the card.  Follows is my impression of three of
my favorite cards in this deck:

Queen of the Nights is a remarkable crone with
long white hair flying in an invisible wind.  In
front of her are three Queen of the Night flowers,
two of them life staffs in her right and left
hands.  A calm and peaceful look of determination
dominates her face.  Above her is the full moon
with two waxing moon stages on her right and two
waning stages on her left.  The care is done in
blues with yellow, green and red trim.  Wonderful
card.

Rose is the Virgin Mary sitting on the grass with
the moon encircling her head like a halo.  A
rainbow borders the arch and a pasture leading
into the mountains forms the backdrop for this
picture.  A pink rose on her right and a yellow
rose on her left complete this picture of the
Mother of this World, the Queen of Heaven.

Sagebrish depicts a wonderful ghost buffalo
walking beside an Indian maiden.  Her hand rests
on the buffalo's hump.  Sagebrush blossoms bloom
on the ridge and clumps of grass dot the prairie.
The artist captures the essence of the prairie and
our imagination.

The little white book describes each flower under
the heading of "Plant Signature," and explains the
spiritual powers of each plant under the heading
of "Flower Essences."  The author assigns a
specific archetypal image to each card.  For
example, Rose is the Mother of Heaven, Sagebrush
is the White Buffalo Calf Woman, and the Queen of
the Night is Grandmother Wisdom.  A healing
message and a blessing are also included for each
card.

Each card contains a message of hope and
encouragement, so I like to use it with clients
anytime the reading has been difficult for them.
Sometimes I just ask clients what this card says
to them and they do their own reading.  At other
times I make certain the healing message and
blessing hit the mark for them.  But my favorite
exercise with this deck is to match each card with
one of the thirty-two paths on the Tree of Life.
I've done it dozens of times and come up with
dozens of correspondences and every time I learn
more about myself and the Divine.  It's an
exercise I recommend to anybody following any
spiritual path.

This is a deck I recommend to anybody looking for
an alternative tool to use with tarot clients.  I
also recommend it to spiritual travelers and
seekers.

Isha Lerner also wrote a 200 page book Power of
Flowers (ISBN 1-57281-257-5) which I had to order
separately.  This book is an expanded version of
the little white book.  It's also illustrated by
Karen Forkish who illustrated the deck.  Each card
is discussed in more depth.  The author also
explains how the essence of each card affects our
lives.  She calls this section "Practical
Applications."

These practical applications alone are worth the
$11.00 cost of this book.  Isha expanded her
description of several interesting spreads in this
book.  She also wrote a wonderful chapter about
Natura, the Soul of Nature.  All too often we
forget nature has a soul and that all of nature is
alive.  This chapter refreshes our memory.  The
following chapter discussing  the mythology of the
soul will do the same.  Refreshing our memory is
sometimes a good thing.

I recommend the "Power of Flower" book to tarot
readers, spiritual travelers, inquisitive nature
lovers and anybody seeking to learn more about
themselves and their world.  I commend Isha for
writing and sharing "Power of Flowers" and the
"Inner Child Cards" and workbook with us.  What a
wonderful writer you are Isha!

**************************************
3.  Astrology and Tarot - Part Six
**************************************

This week we finish up the planets by assigning
one card from the Major Arcana to each Neptune and
Pluto.  So far we've assigned Keys III, IV, VII,
XV, XVI, XVIII, XIX, and XXI to the other eight
planets.  We still have twelve signs and twelve
keys to go.

Neptune is another planet that operates more
femininely in my opinion.  Perhaps her real name
is Neptuna.  I see her as Queen of the Water
Element.  I can make quite an argument for
assigning her to the Sephiroth Binah, Mother God.
I can also make a good argument for assigning her
to the Hanged Man just like the Golden Dawn does.
But I'm going to throw a monkey wrench into the
mix and assign Neptune to the Star.  Can't you
just see the Star as Queen of the Water Element?
I can.

Pluto is a very masculine planet to my way of
thinking.  I could justify assigning him to any
number of trumps including the Magician, Emperor,
Chariot, Death, Devil, Tower, and Judgment.  But
I'm going to choose the Hierophant because of
Pluto's association with the underworld.  I see
the Hierophant also as having some association
with death and the underworld.  The Golden Dawn
assigns Pluto to Judgment and the element Fire.
But it seems to me the fictional Fires of Hell are
more closely associated with the fictional Devil.
I'll stick with the Hierophant which in modern day
society may also be fictional.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it,
is to assign one card of the Major Arcana to
Neptune and another card to the planet (or errant
moon of Neptune) to Pluto.  Write down someplace,
preferably in your Tarot Journal, the definition
you want to assign to each card.  Next week we'll
start assigning the signs of the Zodiac to the
remaining trump cards.  In the meantime, enjoy
this exercise and have fun.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line.   www.TarotInstitute.com
<a href="http://www.tarotinstitute.com">AOL</a>
Link to Tarot Institute website.

Gentlepeople,

Andy Sak at Inner Traditions asked me to post the
following announcement about "Medicine Cards:

"Inner Traditions * Bear & Company does not own the
rights to Medicine Cards. When Inner Traditions bought
Bear & Company, the rights of Medicine Cards were
sold to Saint Martin Press. To purchase these cards,
you can call 888-330-8477. "

A big apology to everybody for publishing inaccurate and
incomplete acquisition information for "Medicine Cards."

A big thanks to Andy and Inner Traditions.  Any interested
readers may find a complete listing of all Inner Traditions
astrology, tarot and divination books and decks at
http://www.innertraditions.com/subjects/astrol.htm
<a
href="http://www.innertraditions.com/subjects/astrol.htm ">AOL</a>

Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Namaste,
John

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 15
April 20, 2003. In this issue:

1. Questions and Answers
2. Review of "Medicine Cards"
3. Astrology and Tarot - Part Five

If you have any contact with our former web
mistress Elaine Olson, will you please ask her
to contact me?
Thanks.  mailto:john2002@...

******************************
1. Questions and Answers
******************************

Q - I don't like the cards you picked for Mercury
and Venus.  Is that O.K.?

A - Of course it's O.K.  The point of this whole
exercise is to encourage you to assign the planets
and signs to the cards the way you want to assign
them.  This is not a course in how to do things my
way.  Besides, you don't even need to assign the
planets and signs to the Major Arcana.  You can
assign them to any cards you choose.

Q - Do you know how I can make my own cards for
Astrology and Tarot?

A - You can make your own cards on three by five
index cards.  You can make a smaller deck using
business card stock available at most office
supply stores.  You can even purchase blank tarot
cards from U.S. Games.  I have one deck
painstakingly made by cutting them out of 90 pound
8.5 x 11 card stock.  You can buy a package for
less than $10.00 and cut the cards out to any size
up to 8.5 by 11 inches.  By the way, 8.5 x 11's a
great card size for teaching a small group.

A2 - Depending upon your artistic abilities you
can paint or draw the images on the cards.  If
you're artistically challenged like me, use
symbols on the cards, trace figures out of
magazines or cut out pictures and paste them on
your cards.  This last approach is called collage
and it really works quite well.  For information
about a tarot deck created using this technique
see <a
href="http://www.ixpres.com/transformational/">Arnel
Ando</a>.

Q - Please tell me how to calculate time using a
tarot deck.

A - Assign some interval of time to each of the
suits.  One way to do that is to assign days to
Pentacles, weeks to Cups, months to Swords, years
to Wands and decades to the Major Arcana.  But you
can use any time intervals you'd like.  You can
use all seventy-eight cards for a lifetime of
seventy-eight years.  The possibilities are
endless.  Decide what length of time you want to
cover and divide that up into four or five parts
and choose a time interval for each suit and the
Majors.  Write it down so you and your
subconscious mind are on the same wavelength.
Then give it a try.

Q - Do you think tarot was invented in Atlantis?

A - No, I think it grew out of the traveling
religious carts of the Middle Ages around the turn
of the first Millenium.  But that's an unproven
theory.  As far as we know, tarot originated in
Northern Italy around 1400.  But we don't even
have a complete deck from that time to prove this
theory beyond a shadow of a doubt.  We do have a
few cards and letters from this period to make a
good case for this conjecture.

**************************************
2.  Review of "Medicine Cards" by Jamie Sams &
David Carson, illustrated by Angela C. Werneke
a review by John Gilbert
**************************************

Several of you have asked me to describe what
other kinds of divination I use.  Over the next
few weeks, I'm going to review several books and
decks discussing different kinds of divination I
like to use.  The first book and deck is the
"Medicine Cards" by Jamie Sams and David Carson
(ISBN 0-939680-53-X), illustrated by Angela C.
Werneke and published by Bear and Company.  Note
that since I obtained my copy of Medicine Cards,
Bear and Company has merged with Inner Traditions
to form the a company: Inner Traditions
International - Bear & Company.

There are forty-four to fifty-three cards in the
Medicine Cards deck.  Some of the Medicine Cards
depict birds.  There's also a couple insects,
reptiles and amphibians.  But most of the cards
depict warm-blooded animals.  All-in-all, the deck
is a good representative sample of animals in
North America.  There's also nine cards you can
use to add your own totems or animals to the deck.
These are called blank shield cards.  You can use
them or not at your own option.  That's why
there's forty-four to fifty-three cards in the pack.

The cards are solid, printed on good, thick card
stock.  They're quite attractive.  Each card is
numbered and the name of the animal is given in
bold print.  But the names really aren't needed as
the illustrations fully describe the animal
depicted.

The authors do a good job describing the medicine
energy of each card.  They give one easily-
memorized key word for each card.  There's a
short poem given for each card.  Finally, they have
a contrary meaning for each card should the
reader choose to use reversed cards.

The authors describe several excellent spreads for
using the Medicine Cards.  My favorite two spreads
are the Sun Lodge and Moon Lodge spreads.  The
first is a Medicine Wheel spread indicating how
others see you.  The second is a mirror spread
describing who and what you really are.  But the
one I use most often for myself is a three-card
past, present, future spread.  I also enjoy pulling
one card for my clients by saying something like:
"Let's see what medicine the animal kingdom is
sending you right now."  I even do that for myself
now and then.

It's an interesting exercise to assign the
twenty-two Major Arcana cards to half of the
Medicine cards.  Then assign the inverted Major
Arcana to the remaining twenty-two Medicine cards.
Is Coyote the Fool?  Maybe it's the Mouse or the
Fox.  Is Buffalo the Hierophant or the Hermit?  or
maybe the High Priestess?  These are interesting
questions worthy of deeper study.

The Medicine cards are easy to learn but take time
to master.  They offer an alternative to tarot
that's both interesting and informative.  In 1988
when I procured my Medicine Cards, the totem I
drew for East was the Crow.  At that time I didn't
understand Crow medicine.  But that's the energy I
brought into this lifetime and the more I understand
Crow, the more I realize how Crow enriches my life.
The tools we bring into this life can serve us well.
We just need to learn what they are and how to use
them.  The Medicine Cards helped me do that.

To learn more about Medicine Cards check out <a
href="http://www.parkstpress.com/">Inner
Traditions and Bear & Co.</a>

**************************************
3.  Astrology and Tarot - Part Five
**************************************

If you've been following along, you now have cards
from the major Arcana assigned to the Moon,
Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars and Jupiter.  In
this installment you're going to assign one of the
sixteen remaining Major Arcana cards to each of
the planets Saturn and Uranus.  Which card you
choose for each planet is entirely up to you.

Saturn is the Great Teacher in my tradition.  By
the way, I'm personally convinced her name is
Saturna.  I see her as very feminine in so many
ways.  But, in keeping with the masculine-
dominated society in which we find ourselves,
let's call her Saturn.  As the Great teacher,
Saturn leads us from one learning opportunity
to another.

The Hermetic order of the Golden Dawn assigns
Saturn to Key Twenty-one, the World.  But I've
already assigned Key Twenty-one to Jupiter.  I'm
going to assign Saturn to Key Fifteen, the Devil.
So I'll remove that card from my tableau.  You'll
need to decide what Key you'll assign to Saturn.

Uranus is the first of the three "invisible" planets
which can't be seen with the naked eye.  The
other two "invisible" planets are Neptune and
Pluto which we'll discuss next week.  Many
astrologers assign Uranus to the Element of Air.
Incidently, they also assign Saturn to the Element
of Earth, Neptune to Water and Pluto to Fire.  The
Golden Dawn correlates Uranus with the Fool.  I
like the Tower for Uranus, so I'll pull Key XVI out
of my tableau and assign it to the planet Uranus.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it,
is to assign one card of the Major Arcana to
Saturn and another card to the planet Uranus.
Write down someplace, preferably in your Tarot
Journal, the definition you want to assign to each
card.  Next week we'll assign cards to the other
two invisible planets.  In the meantime, enjoy this
exercise and have fun.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line.   www.TarotInstitute.com
<a href="http://www.tarotinstitute.com">AOL</a>
Link to Tarot Institute website.

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 14
April 13, 2003. In this issue:

1. Questions and Answers
2. Review: "Discover Yourself Through Palm Reading"
3. Astrology and Tarot - Part Four

******************************
1. Questions and Answers
******************************
Q - Were can I obtain a copy of "Sefer Yetzirah"
you referenced last week?

A - A place called Milechai Books has it in stock.
<A href=" www.milechai.com">www.milechai.com</a>

Q - What astrology book do you recommend for
beginners?

A - My strongest suggestion is to visit your local
bookstore, ask where they keep their astrology
books and start looking at the books they have
available.  You'll undoubtedly find one that
appeals to you.  That's the best book for you.  If
you don't find something at the first book store,
try another store.  Eventually you'll find what
you're looking for.  That's my suggestion.  You'll
know it's the right book if you like it and can't
put it down.

Q - I was wondering if - while you were assigning
planets to the Major Arcana cards if you would also
assign what element (Fire, Earth, Air, Water) you
think would be associated with each planet/card?
This would be of great help for those of us who do,
or who are trying to learn Elemental Dignities (ED's).

A - I usually assign the Major Arcana to the Spirit
Element which is a positive influence on all the
other suits.  However, most astrologers assign the
element of the sign to its ruling planet.  Mercury
rules both Gemini (Air) and Virgo (Earth).  Venus
rules both Taurus (Earth) and Libra (Air). Mars
rules Aries (Fire) and some say Scorpio (Water).
Jupiter rules Sagittarius. Saturn rules Capricorn
(Earth) Uranus rules Aquarius (Air), Neptune
rules Pisces (Water), Pluto rules Scorpio (Water)
the Moon rules Cancer (Water) and the Sun
rules Leo (Fire).

Those astrologers who believe Vulcan rules Virgo
(earth) and Atlantis (Apollo) rules Libra assign each
of their twelve planets to one of the Zodiacal signs.
That way everything comes out even.

Another system used by some astrologers is to
assign Saturn to Earth, Mars, Pluto and the Sun to
Fire, Venus, Neptune and the Moon to Water, and
Uranus, Jupiter and Mercury to Air.  A few of them
would assign Apollo (Atlantis) and Vulcan to Earth.

My suggestion is to study the planets and decide,
based on your experience and knowledge, what
assignment of elements to planets works best for
you.  That's the system I suggest you use.

Q - What else can I do to help my client besides
just doing a tarot reading?

A - This is a very common question with lots of
answers.  I've used Runes, Medicine Cards, Power
of Flower cards, Scarabs and several different
kinds of divination cards over the years.  I like
them all.    But there's an easy-to-learn
technique that seems to enhance my readings and
help me connect with face-to-face clients better
than anything.  To learn more about this
technique, please read the book review which
follows the Questions and Answers.

***************************************************
2.  "Discover Yourself Through Palm Reading"
by Rita Robinson and reviewed by John Gilbert
***************************************************
I started reading palms as a junior in high
school.  It was always a hit at parties and lots
of fun.  Back in those days I knew how to
interpret three things: 1) Life Line, 2) Heart
Line, and 3) Head Line.  Those three things served
me very well for several years.

Over the years I've added other techniques to my
repertoire.  I learned to evaluate the Fate Line
and Relationship Lines.  I learned how to read the
palm, thumb and finger shapes.  I learned the
mounts.  But I'm still an amateur palm reader in
spite of the fact I charge $25.00 for a fifteen
minute palm reading.

I just finished reading one of the best books on
palm reading I've ever read, and I've probably
read a couple dozen books on the topic.  That book
is "Discover Yourself Through Palm Reading" (ISBN
1-56414-542-5) by Rita Robinson and published by
New Page Books, a Division of Career Press.
<a href="www.newpagebooks.com">New Page</a>

Rita Robinson is a palm reading expert.  She's
written twelve books on palmistry, health,
psychology, friendship and relationships.  She's
been published in Martha Stewart Living,
Cosmopolitan, National Health, Woman's World and
several other major magazines and newspapers.  She
happens to be a very good writer in my opinion.

In the second sentence of her Introduction, Rita
says: "The hands provide clues to talents,
capabilities, personalities, temperaments,
desires, weaknesses and strengths rather than
offer a path in life that must be followed."  She
then proceeds in the next 200 plus pages to
describe how the hands reveal these secrets.

The first two chapters discuss genetic influences
and hand dominance.  In chapter three Rita
describes hand shapes and textures.  She
attributes the four major hand types to the four
elements which makes them much easier to learn and
understand than earlier methods.  If I were
teaching people to read palms today, this is where
I'd start.  The shape of the palms tells you a lot
about the person and this is easy material to
learn.

Chapters four and five discuss the shapes of the
thumbs and fingers.  The information gleaned from
the thumb and fingers enhances and personalizes
the information learned from the palm.  One could
give an in-depth reading of any palm by utilizing
the information given in chapters three, four and
five.  You might say this information comprises
the basics of palm reading.  But, if I were
teaching palm reading to somebody, I'd teach them
about the lines and mounts in the palms first.
After they knew how to read the shape, lines and
mounts of the palm is when I'd teach them about
the shape of the fingers and thumbs.  But that's
just me.

Chapters six, seven and eight discuss the lines
and the mounts.  Here's where you learn the tools
most people expect you to know as a "palm reader."
Rita's done a great job simplifying these
techniques to make them easy to learn and use.
She approaches the subject very logically step by
step.  She gives easy-to-learn key words for each
line and mount.  Anybody with a rudimentary
knowledge of astrology can expand these key words
into concepts which can be used to tell the story
of the client's palm.

Chapters nine through fourteen discuss more
advanced techniques you can learn later after
you've practiced on yourself, your family and
friends and a few clients.  By the way, practicing
on yourself is a great way to learn how to read
palms.  If you've decided to learn about palm
reading, here's my suggestions:

First, get to a copy machine and take a copy of
your own hands.  Better yet, get copies of several
pairs of hands from yourself, family and friends.
Just place both hands on the copy machine and
press down with your fingers and thumbs separated
and extended.  Secondly, buy this book and read it
through from cover to cover.  Yep, I just
suggested you get some copies of hands first
before you know what you're doing.  Of course, you
can buy the book first.  You always have the right
to do things your way.

Third, my suggestion is to learn the shapes of the
palm, the lines and mounts next.  These three
things will become your basic tools.  As soon as
you understand these things pretty well, start
reading palms.  If you doubt your own abilities,
obtain a copy of your client's hand prints.  Work
with these hand print copies and "Discover
Yourself Through Palm Reading" to do the reading.
Write it out right on the paper.  Call or send
your client your reading but keep your original
copies for further learning.

Use these copies of hand prints with your notes
for each reading as a learning tool.  As you
review them from time to time, you'll see a few
mistakes or oversights.  Use these to solidify
your knowledge about palms and palm reading.  Oh,
by the way, always remember when you're looking at
palms and copies of palm prints your clients right
hand is on your left.  When you read palms, the
thumbs point out; but when you read copies, the
thumbs point in.  It can be a little confusing
unless you read one hand at a time and compare the
hands later.

My fourth suggestion is to keep this book and
don't give it away until you've learned the rest
of the techniques.  This may take you several
years as it did me.  But if you're a quick learner
dedicated to learning these techniques, you can
learn them in a few weeks.  Anyway, when you're
proficient with the three suggested techniques,
learn about the shape of thumbs and fingers and
the advanced techniques.

If you want to give your clients a little
something extra or become a little more
competitive, I suggest palm readings as a second
tool for divination.  If you want to learn palm
reading, I recommend this book:  "Discover
Yourself Through Palm Reading" (ISBN
1-56414-542-5) by Rita Robinson, published by New
Page Books (newpagebooks.com).

**************************************************
3.  Astrology and Tarot - Part Four
**************************************************

If you've been following the assignments in order,
you now have key words, phrases or concepts for
four planets and you've assigned each of these
planets to one of the trumps in the Major Arcana.
Those planets are the Moon, Mercury, Venus and the
Sun.

Mars is the next fastest planet.  Mars is the God
of War and Mars symbolizes the things of this
world.  Astrologically, Mars is the planet of
activation.  Mars represents a person's energy
level, the amount of force or internal drive each
of us has.  Mars is a planet of assertiveness and
aggression, power and force, ambition and desire.
Mars is also anger in all its variations and forms
from rage to the peace that comes from the absence
of anger.  But Mars is also the pioneering spirit,
the drive to do something new and different.

I'm going to assign Key IV, the Emperor to Mars,
because the Emperor expresses a higher form of
this God in contemplation.  I've chosen the key
words energy and Activation to define the Emperor
in this system.  The Golden Dawn assigned the
Tower to Mars and the Emperor to Key IV.  I don't
think Aries will end up with the Tower, but at
this point in developing this system, I don't know
where Aries will end up.  Anyway, I remove Key IV
from my Working Tableau and put it in my New
tableau.

Jupiter is the astrological good luck charm.  It
represents expansion, optimism, generosity and the
urge for knowledge and wisdom.  Jupiter is the
planet of preservation, of keeping the good things
in life for others to enjoy.  It's also happy and
cheerful and it helps people be the same way.
Jupiter can also relate to weight problems and
diabetes.

I'm going to assign Key XXI, the World, to Jupiter
and give it the key word Expansion as a meaning.
Other words to choose from include good luck,
optimism, generosity, charity, preservation,
cheerful , happiness, and the urge for knowledge
and wisdom.  Other trumps I considered for Jupiter
were Magician, Strength, Hermit, Wheel, Death
(because overweight is also Jupiter), and the
Star.

You'll need to decide for yourself which cards
you'll want to assign to Mars and Jupiter and
remove these cards from your pile or tableau.  The
next step is to decide what key word, phrase or
concepts you want to assign to each of these two
cards.  Your assignment, should you choose to
accept it, is to assign one card of the Major
Arcana to Mars and another card to the planet
Jupiter.  Write down someplace, preferably in your
Tarot Journal, the definition you want to assign
to each card.  In the meantime, enjoy this
exercise and have fun.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line.   www.TarotInstitute.com
<a href="http://www.tarotinstitute.com">AOL</a>
Link to Tarot Institute website.

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 13
April 6, 2003. In this issue:

1. Questions and Answers
2. Review of "Healing with Crystals" by Pamela
      Louise Chase and Jonathan Pawlik
3. Astrology and Tarot - Part Three

******************************
1. Questions and Answers
******************************
Q - I don't agree with your definition for the
Moon.  It's our subconscious mind, our feelings
and intuition don't you think?

A - Well, yes, the Moon can be all of these things
and more.  You have three problems to consider:

First, there's already a body of knowledge built
up over centuries about what the planets mean.  If
you use this body of knowledge you fit into the
mainstream of astrologers and most of them will
agree with your interpretation.

Secondly, you may already have a pretty good idea
of what the planets and signs mean to you.  If you
use these interpretations, you and your
subconscious mind will both know what's going on.
Whatever you discover about yourself or your
client using this approach will always be correct
because the cards never lie.

Thirdly, this isn't an astrology course and I'm
not trying to convince anybody to do anything my
way at all.  What I am trying to do is help you
develop a definition for each of the Major Arcana
cards, planets and signs for yourself.  The second
thing I'm trying to achieve is to help you gain a
further understanding of yourself and tarot.
Those are my goals.  You need to decide for
yourself what your goals are and figure out how
you want to satisfy those goals.

Then define the planets and signs to be exactly
what you want them to be or don't define them at
all.  My suggestion is you do this by tapping your
own personal knowledge and experience.  Please do
not do things my way because you may not
understand my knowledge and experience base just
as I don't understand yours.  Each of us is a
genius concerning ourselves and a dunce concerning
the emotions, pain, and ideas of others.  Unless,
of course, we work at understanding these things
better.

Yes, the Moon can be anything you know,
understand, feel and want it to be.

Q - What do you think about using crystals and
stones in a tarot reading?

A - I'm in favor of any tools a tarot reader can
use to answer his or her client's questions.  I
don't use crystals or minerals in my our
divinations, but I do use them for ritual,
healing, meditation and spiritual purposes.  I
also use them as "give-aways" to clients.

**************************************
2.  Review of "Healing With Crystals"
       A review by John Gilbert
**************************************

For three reasons I recommend tarot readers obtain
a copy of "Healing With Crystals" (ISBN
1-56414-535-2) by Pamela Louise Chase and Jonathan
Pawlik, published by New Page Books.

The first reason is the authors give wonderful
instructions for choosing, caring for, and
programming crystals.  Secondly,  they give
excellent suggestions for using crystal pendulums
as a divination tool.  This is not just a simple
yes-no tool, but using the suggested techniques it
becomes a multiple-choice-single-answer device.

Thirdly they illustrate a simple way for using
crystals for self-healing.  It's a well-designed,
three-step process you'll find quite useful for
yourself.  Healers and other health care
professionals will also enjoy the last three
chapters which discuss healing others and the
planet.

Crystals can be used to enhance our own energy or
to send energy into a place, person or situation.
You can program any crystal or mineral specimen to
assist you or your client.  You can also program
crystals to emit positive vibrations in your
reading area.  You can even build a crystal grid
for personal transformation.

Here's an idea not in the book:  Keep a selection
of small crystal points ($2.00 or less each) on
your tarot reading table.  When your client could
use a little extra energy for something, have them
choose a point.  Cleanse and program the crystal
in their presence.  Charge it for a specific
purpose and give it to them.  In this manner you
can create an amulet, talisman, or spell-charged
totem.  In my experience this is a good
prospecting tool because clients talk about these
things with their family and friends.  It also
brings clients back on a regular basis.

The sequel to this book is "Healing with
Gemstones" (ISBN 1-56414-547-6) by the same
authors and publisher.  It's an in-depth analysis
of using the more common gemstones for healing.
It's also an excellent meditation-with-minerals
manual.  Don't let the name "gemstones" get in the
way.  This book also covers common beautiful
stones.  Polished stones (less than $1.00 each)
could be used in much the same way as crystals to
help clients.  By following the suggestions in
this book you could easily help your clients heal
themselves.

I recommend using  crystals and gemstones to
empower your clients.  If you decide to do that, I
recommend you take a look at these two offerings
from Pamela Louise Chase, Jonathan Pawlik and
New Leaf Books.

****************************************
3.  Astrology and Tarot - Part Three
****************************************

If you did the last assignment, you've selected
one card of the Major Arcana to be a symbol for
the Moon and another card to represent Mercury.
You've also defined each of them.  That means
you've selected a key word, phrase or concept for
each of these two cards.

Venus is the next fastest planet.  Astrologically,
Venus symbolizes love, romance, friendships and
harmony between the individual and other people.
Venus is a nurturing planet that also nurtures
plants and animals as well as humans.  Venus
represents love and all emotions related to love.

In looking over the remaining cards in my tableau,
I've decided the Empress best personifies these
emotions for me.   Funny thing, the Golden Dawn
selected the same card for Venus.  This is the
first, but it probably won't be the last, time my
selection agrees with the Golden Dawn.  There are,
several other cards in my deck that I could have
chosen.  Some of them are Hierophant, Lovers,
Strength, Hermit, Temperance, Star, Sun, The
World.  I could also justify the Hanged Man and
Death as representing unconditional love.  But I
choose The Empress to represent Venus and I assign
the key concept of "love, both romantic and
unconditional" to this card and remove it from my
tableau.

Let me digress for a moment.  In my opinion, you
could select any card in the Major Arcana and
justify assigning any planet to that card.  The
problem is to look ahead and see what your options
will be for future cards.  You mentally set aside
some cards for certain purposes.  For example,
I've already decided what card I want to assign to
the planet Pluto.  So I don't want to use that
card for any other purpose.  On the other hand, I
may get to the point where a card I've already
assigned to a planet needs to be used for another
purpose.  I may need to change my mind.  You may
need to make some changes along the way as well.

The Sun is the next fastest planet from the
perspective of an Earth inhabitant.  Inhabitants
of Mars would select the Earth as the next fastest
planet followed by the Sun.  People living on
Venus would have found the Sun to travel faster
than the Earth.  It's all very relative to which
planet you call home.

Astrologically, the Sun is my personal
self-expression.  It's also a symbol of my power
and vitality.  Some astrologers say the Sun shows
a woman's attitude toward men.  But since each
planet and sign has both positive and negative
attributes, you need to be careful about making
generalizations concerning attitudes.  Other words
assigned to the Sun are willpower, constitution
and determination.

The Golden Dawn assigns the Sun card, Key XIX, to
the planet Sun.  It's hard for me not to do the
same thing, so I will for the second time agree
with them.  Other cards that could be selected
include the Magician, Emperor, Hierophant,
Chariot, Strength, or any other card you determine
to represent the Sun.  The key concept I'm
assigning to the Sun is Personality and I remove
the Sun card from my tableau.

I've now removed four cards from my original
tableau.  I'm going to start a second tableau with
these cards by placing them in the same position
they held in the first tableau.  I now have a
"Working Tableau" which diminishes in size card by
card as I select them.  I also have a "New
Tableau" which will increase in size card by card
as I assign the cards to the planets and signs.
You decide how you want to handle this for
yourself.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it,
is to assign one card of the Major Arcana to Venus
and another card to the Sun.  Remove these cards
from your tableau.  Write down someplace,
preferably in your Tarot Journal, the card and definition
you want to assign to each card.  In the meantime,
enjoy this exercise and have fun.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line.  www.TarotInstitute.com
<a href="http://www.tarotinstitute.com">AOL</a>
Link to Tarot Institute website.

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 12
March 30, 2003. In this issue:

1. Questions and Answers
2. Review of "Sefer Yetzirah" by Aryeh Kaplan
3. Astrology and Tarot - Part Two

Call for reviews.  This seems to be a popular
section of this newsletter from all the questions
I'm receiving about this book or that tarot deck.
If you'd like to write a few reviews for
publication, please send them on to me.  I'll be
happy to publish good reviews in this newsletter
and on our website.  Thanks.

******************************
1. Questions and Answers
******************************
Q - I don't know anything about Astrology.  How do
you expect me to do what you say?

A - I don't have any expectations and I'm not
telling you to do anything.  You get to choose
what you do, what you want to learn, and what you
want to be in this life.  If you're not ready to
study a little astrology along with your tarot,
you can delete or disregard this series of
newsletters, save them for later, or get your feet
wet.  The choice is yours.  In my opinion,
astrology can be used to enrich our understanding
of tarot and help us become more spiritual.  But
notice the  words "can be used" and "help."  The
choice is ours to make.  My suggestion is you do
what you want to do.

Q - About a year ago you wrote something about
answering when questions using a variable
number of cards.  Will you please reprint that
article?

A - Sorry, I don't have that article any more, but
here's the gist of what I was proposing:

   The first series of articles suggested pulling a
card to identify how many things needed to be
accomplished first.  Then the desire result would
follow.  The number of the card indicates the
number of things which need to be done first. If
a court card is pulled that counts as ten things
and you draw another card to see how many
more than ten need to be done.  Theoretically
you could pull sixteen court cards and the World
for a grand total of 181 things to be done first.
Note a Court Card and the Fool is only ten.  The
Fool by itself says the thing desired is happening.

The next step is to pull that number of cards
and determine exactly what needs to be
accomplished and in what order.

The second series of articles amended the way
court cards were counted so Pages became 11,
Knights 12, Queens 13 and Kings 14.  The only
way to obtain more than fourteen things would
be to draw a trump in the series 15-21.  This
limits the number of steps to a maximum of 21
but that doesn't seem to pose any problems.

The third suggestion was to decide which one
of the five elements best describes the desired
outcome.  Then use the Dynamic Elemental
Tarot Spread and draw cards until you obtain
one under the desired element.  This card shows
the last thing that needs to be done to attain the
desired result.  The other cards each show
preliminary steps that can be done in any order
or in the order in which the cards are drawn.  The
reader makes the decision as to which order will
be used before drawing any cards.

This final suggestion was written in Tarot News
Volume II Number 6 and you can download it at
groups.yahoo.com/group/TarotNews.  So what
do you do if you don't know which element best
describes the desired event?  Use the full
Dynamic Elemental Tarot Spread and the last
element to be filled is the final step.  The other
elements identify preliminary steps.

Which is my favorite approach?  I normally
use the second suggestion in my own readings.

{Your questions are always welcome.}

****************************************************
2.  Review of "Sefer Yetzirah" by Aryeh Kaplan
       A review by John Gilbert

****************************************************

Several people have asked me what's the best book
on the Qabala.  That's a really difficult question
to answer because the Qabala is not one book.
It's a group of books including the Bahir, Zohar,
and Sepher Yetzirah among others.  There are
several dozen good commentaries which also
comprise the Qabala.  So where does the beginner
start?

In my opinion, one good place to start is "Modern
Magic" by Donald Michael Kraig available from
Llewellyn.  This is the "bible" for ceremonial
magicians who are the "Practical Qabala" in
operation.  Their ceremonies are the practices of
the rituals born in the Qabala.  Understanding
these rituals will give you a good basic
understanding of the Qabala.

Once you have a feel for the Qabala the next book
to read is the Sepher Yetzirah (The Book of
Creation) which explains how everything is, was
and will be created.  There are several books by
this name but the most complete one containing
both the theoretical and practical applications of
the Qabala is "Sefer Yetzirah" (ISBN
0-87728-726-0) by Aryeh Kaplan and published by
Samuel Weiser, Inc.

Kaplan translates both the short and long version
of the Sepher (Which he spells Sefer) Yetzirah
with extensive commentary explaining what each
verse means.  He documents his opinions with
references from many of the great Kabalists
(Qabalists) throughout history.  He also includes
the Saadia version which contains basically the
same material as the earlier versions.  These are
not big books.  The longest version of the Sepher
Yetzirah, the so-called Long Version, contains
only 2500 words.

The Sepher Yetzirah is a condensed book (in "Sefer
Yetzirah" it's really three condensed books) and
Kaplan does a remarkable job expanding the basic
teaching into easily understood concepts.
Students who read these versions side by side with
Kaplan's commentary have at their fingertips the
very best information about the creation of
everything that is now, ever was and ever will be.
It's the story about who and what we really are.

Sefer Yetzirah is divided into four parts: 1) The
Sefirot (Sepheroth), 2) The Hebrew alphabet, 3)
The Mothers, Doubles and Elementals of the Hebrew
alphabet, and 4) what I call an introduction to
Qabalistic meditation.  In the last chapter of the
book the author explains the "axis, cycle and
heart" of the Qabalah.  These are meditative or
contemplative practices.  Hence, I call this
chapter an introduction to Qabalistic meditation.

"Sefer Yetzirah" is not an easy read.  It takes
time to fully understand the meaning of the short
verses and Kaplan's commentary.  Kaplan subdivided
each chapter into small units of learning.  My
suggestion is to read each sub-chapter over to get
the big picture.  Then follow the commentary by
reading and re-reading it until you fully understand
the meaning of that part of the book.  It may take a
week or a month to fully comprehend a sub-chapter.
So be it.  The work is well worth the effort.  "Sefer
Yetzirah" may not be an easy read, but it's most
certainly a rewarding one.

This is not a self-help book. It's an instruction
manual which reveals the truth about who and what
we are.  As we learn this truth our life is
transformed.  As we practice the suggested
contemplations, we'll never again be the person we
used to be.  So, in this sense, it's the most
wonderful self-help book I can imagine.

Kaplan includes one of the most comprehensive
bibliographies I've ever read.  Students of the
Qabala will appreciate these reference materials.
Beginners will have a reading list for the rest of
their lives.  Armed with the "Sefer Yetzirah" by
Kaplan and "Modern Magic" by Kraig, you'll be
prepared to transform yourself completely.  One
word of caution: While just reading these books
raises your awareness, it takes dedication and
work to really transform yourself.  (Isn't it
interesting that the first three Sepheroth can be
called Awareness, Dedication and Work!)

Serendipity?

**************************************************
3.  Astrology and Tarot - Part Two
**************************************************

Let's start with the planets.  That's an arbitrary
decision.  It really doesn't matter where you
start.  It only matters that you start someplace
sometime.  I have no reason to choose the planets
over the signs and I have no reason to decide to
start with the fastest planets first and keep
moving down to the slower and slower moving
planets.  It's all arbitrary.

Let's say the Moon is the fastest planet though it
really isn't even a planet.  It's a moon.  Earth,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune all have
moons.  Pluto, Mercury and Venus don't though some
astronomers believe Pluto might have captured some
large asteroids that make Pluto behave like it has
moons.  Some astronomers believe Pluto is one of
Neptune's moons that escaped.  Some of them also
believe Neptune will eventually either recapture
Pluto, or collide with it.  Essentially that would
be somewhat like throwing a basketball into a
bathtub of water.  After things settle down, you'd
probably never know what happened.

So, we have the Moon.  Astrologically speaking,
the Moon represents our consciousness and the way
we express our consciousness.  Some astrologers
call the Moon an expression of our personality.
To me the Moon is our emotional body and it
expresses itself through our responses to the good
and bad things that happen to us.  If you think
about it, our consciousness is our personality,
our personality is our emotional body, and our
emotional body does express itself through our
responses (i.e. Reactions) to the good and bad
things that happen to us.

For our purposes, let's call the Moon our
Emotional Body.  That's what I'll call it in this
series of articles.  You're free to call it
anything you want.  (You don't need my
permission.)  You may want to call it Soul, Soul
consciousness, Personality, Fluctuation, Emotions,
Emotionality, Response, Reaction or any synonym of
these words.  Or, you can choose something
completely different.  Make a choice now.  You can
always change it later.

Now spread the Major Arcana tarot cards out in
front of you.  I like to have four rows with the
Fool in the top row, Keys One through Seven in the
second row, Keys Eight through Fourteen in the
third row, and Keys Fifteen through Twenty-one in
the bottom row.  I call this my tarot tableau.
You spread them out the way you want to spread
them out.  Let's call whatever you have, your
tableau.  You can, of course, call it whatever you
want to call it.

Pick up any cards which in your opinion don't
represent our Emotional Body.  Turn them over face
down and replace them in the tableau.  Continue to
study the remaining cards and eliminate them one
by one until you have one card remaining that
represents the Moon for you in your system.  The
Golden Dawn says this card is the High Priestess.
I'm going to be different and say it's Key XVIII,
the Moon for purposes of this discussion.  You're
encouraged to make your own decision.

So I remove Key XVIII from my tableau and turn all
the other cards face up in the tableau.  You'll
remove whichever card you believe best exemplifies
the Moon for you based on the definition you
assigned to the Moon.

That was fun.  Now, let's do our second-fastest
planet which really is our fastest planet, the
planet Mercury.  Mercury is also called Hermes,
Thoth Hermes, and Hermes Trimagestis or Hermes
Thrice the Greatest.  We're going to call Mercury
the second-fastest planet and hope the God for
which this planet is named sees the humor in it.
If he doesn't, my communications may suffer or he
may start playing tricks on me.

Astrologically, the planet Mercury represents our
communications, mentality and transport.  It
governs both our urge and our ability to
communicate.  Mercury also controls our ability to
be logical or not.  In mythology, Mercury was the
messenger of the gods.  I'm going to call Mercury
and define it to be my self-conscious mind.  This
is the mind I use to express myself mentally and I
do that through my logic and communications.

Mercury can also be Communications, Communicative
skills, Logic, Mentality, Messenger or anything
you'd like Mercury to be.  The next step is to
decide what tarot card best communicates the
meaning you attach to this planet.  The Golden
Dawn felt the Magician was Mercury.  I'm going to
be different and say it's Key VII, The Chariott.
Please remember I can assign Mercury to any one of
the Major Arcana.  Please also remember while the
Charioteer in the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck has
Moons on his shoulders, that isn't the case for
all tarot decks.  The moons were added to show the
relationship between Cancer and the Moon because
Key VII was Cancer.  But it could be anything you
or I want it to be.

So I remove Key VII from my tableau while you
remove one other trump from your tableau.  We both
turn the other cards all face up for the next
round of attributions.  We both make a note in our
Tarot Journal as to which cards represent which
planets.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it,
is to assign one card of the Major Arcana to the
Moon and another card to the planet Mercury.
Write down someplace, preferably in your Tarot
Journal, the definition you want to assign to each
card.  In the meantime, enjoy this exercise and
have fun.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line.

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 11
March 23, 2003. In this issue:

1. Questions and Answers
2. Review of The Diamond Tarot
      Reviewed by CTM Sheila Hall
3. Astrology and Tarot - Part One

******************************
1. Questions and Answers
******************************

Q - How do I find a copy of Wayang Tarot?

A - My suggestion is to contact the author
Ani Sekarningsih, CTGM at the following address:
mailto:anis@...

Q - For as long as I can remember, you've been
telling people to rephrase Should questions.  Yet,
I notice in your last newsletter you used a Should
question for setting a ritual date for yourself.
Why?

A -  Yes, I recommend rephrasing "Should"
questions.  Yes, I did use a "should -either-or"
question.  Let me rephrase that question as
follows: "Is today a better day to accomplish this
ritual or will later in the week be better?"  Or,
if you prefer, "Which is better, to do the ritual
today or later in the week?"  Same intent, better
questions.

Yes, I do use "should" questions for myself in
situations where two or more options are available
to me and it doesn't make any difference to me
which option I choose.  I could just as well use
"Which" questions.

Q - I can't believe you asked the same question
five days in a row.  Won't the answer to every
question be yes if you ask it often enough?  Why
not ask if today is a good day to kill your
husband?

A - Yes, I suppose the cards will eventually say
"yes" to just about anything.  That raises a very
interesting and crucial issue for me.

The cards suggest but never compel.  The final
decision in all things ultimately rests with the
one for whom the reading is done.  Each of us
needs to be sure the suggestion is something we
really want to do.  We need to be  certain the
outcome causes no harm to anybody or anything.  In
the final analysis we're responsible for what we
do.

If this is the case, don't we as tarot readers
have the responsibility to decline to answer any
question that proposes harm to ourselves or
another?  In my opinion we do have that ethical
responsibility.  So I wouldn't answer the second
question you ask.

On the other hand, our subconscious mind knows our
intentions -- sometimes even better than we do.
Since the operation of tarot divination is under
the control of our subconscious mind, we can
expect truthful answers to any question based on
our true intentions.  It's not a question of
whether we get the right answer from the tarot or
not.  It's a question of what we do with that
information once we receive it.  This is one of
the things that defines us as a White, Gray or
Black Magician.  It also defines who and what
we are on all levels of our being.

We are responsible for the things we do in and
with our own life.

Q - How do you rephrase "Should I" questions?

A - Should I do such and such?  can be changed to:
          What will happen if I do such and such? (outcome)
          Is it a good idea to do such and such?  (yes-no)
          What are my options for such and such? (Air)
          How will I feel if... (Water)
          How will I benefit if... (Earth)(Fire)(Spirit)

Often I don't even tell my client that I'm
rephrasing his or her question.  I just rephrase
it in my head and give the reading based on the
cards.  For example, my client asked me if she
should ask for a raise.  In my head I asked the
cards to tell me the outcome if she asked for a
raise now.  The cards said no.  I then asked when
she'd get a raise.  I drew the Six of Cups and
told her she'd have a better chance at getting the
raise she sought just as soon as she had a better
relationship with her supervisor.  I asked her if
that made any sense and she said "yes."


**************************************
2.  Review of The Diamond Tarot
       A Review By Sheila Hall, CTM
**************************************

The Diamond Tarot deck by Marie-Louise Bergoint
and Klaus Holitzka (ISBN 1-57281-118-8) is a
colorfully revised version of the Rider-Waite deck
which was created to the homage to the artist of
the original Rider-Waite deck, Pamela Coleman
Smith, and is dedicated to her memory.

The revision is in the deeper colors of the
original Rider-Waite image, which is minimized to
the center of the card and surrounded by colorful
borders. The card appears as if you are looking at
a huge diamond from directly above, with the
Rider-Waite image in the center of the diamond.
Each card's border is different, and the border's
appear in varying shades from pastels to deeper
shades of color. At first, I thought the borders
would be too busy and distracting, but in fact, I
was drawn into the center of the card. Klaus
Holitzka is the artist of this creative endeavor.

I came to a better understanding for creating such
a faceted setting for the artwork of Pamela
Coleman Smith, after reading the thoughts of
respect and remembrance of her. In the LWB,
Marie-Louise Bergoint goes into some detail about
the life of Pamela Coleman Smith, and how she did
not receive the recognition she deserved for her
creative role of the Rider-Waite deck.

Each card is discussed with keywords and phrases.
Upright and Inverted meanings are offered, along
with a Message meaning for each card. The cards
are about a centimeter longer than a standard
sized deck and have a glossy coating. They are
easy to handle and shuffle. The number of each
card is at the top, and the name across the bottom
in English.

Another interesting feature is The Diamond System
that is offered in the back of the LWB. A
discussion is included about formulating
questions, and how we perceive our situations in
relation to questions that we ask of the Tarot.
The book explains the benefits of creating precise
questions, and in taking the time to view both
sides of the situation for which we are consulting
the Tarot, so that we are freed from "one-sided
evaluations," which helps us to be more open and
flexible for whatever life has to offer.

The Diamond Reading Method is a six-card spread,
beginning with Card Number Zero, which is the
Focal Question, and ends with Card Number Five,
The Essence, where you create a sentence that sums
everything up. The reading work that is performed
in between cards zero through six offers serious
contemplation and detailed answers that are being
sought from the Tarot.

The Diamond Tarot deck is a boldly colored
eye-catching deck. I've shown the deck to several
people, who not really having an interest in
Tarot, have expressed how they love the cards.
I've enjoyed performing readings with the Diamond
Reading Method, which I believe is very effective,
and has made me consider some changes in other
spreads that I use on a regular basis. This deck
is great for beginners and experienced alike, and
a nice addition to any Tarot collection.

The Diamond Tarot is available through US Games
and can be viewed at

http://www.usgamesinc.com/categoryFrame_T.cfm?Category_ID=251

**************************************************
3.  Astrology and Tarot - Part One
**************************************************

Most people believe the planets, signs and houses
have always been a part of tarot.  They also
believe there's one way to attribute the signs and
planets to the tarot deck.  That way was proposed
by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Surprise!

While the methods taught by the Golden Dawn are
used extensively, their method is not the only way
to assign the planets and signs to the cards.
One of my favorite ways of attributing the cards
to the planets and signs was devised by a
Spiritualist Minister by the name of Clifford
Bias.  He describes that system in his book
"Qabalah, Tarot and the Western Mystery Tradition"
(ISBN 1-57863-031-2) published by Samuel Weiser.
I heartily recommend this book to students of
tarot, astrology and the Golden Dawn.

Reverend Bias was the first male tarot reader I
ever met.  He was one of the nationally recognized
tarot readers who formed the Psychic Readers Guild
in New York City way back when.  (The Psychic
Readers Guild later merged with the Association of
Tarot Readers to form the ATA.)  He was one of the
founders of the Spiritualist-Episcopal Church.  It
was through this church I learned to become a
trance medium (also way back when).  Clifford Bias
holds a special place in my heart and I have a
deep admiration for his work.

Just to whet your appetite, consider the Tree of
Life for a moment.  The eleventh path which goes
from the Crown to the Spiritual Father is usually
attributed to The Fool and the Element of Air.
Clifford does this too.  The twelfth path from the
Crown to the Spiritual Mother is usually
attributed to the Magician and the planet Mercury.
Clifford attributes this to the Element of Water
and the Hanged Man.  He attributes the Last
Judgement and Element of Fire to the Path from the
Crown to the Heart Center instead of the High
Priestess and the Moon.

This makes a lot of sense, because the Crown
represents the Creative Influence and the first
creation was the Element of Air followed by Water
and Fire in that order.  Air gives us Intention,
expansive Knowledge, Wisdom and male energy.
Water gives us Faith, Belief, Understanding and
female energy.  Fire gives us the Child of
Creation (some say the Son of God) which is a
combination of Love and Rightful Anger or
Justified Wrath.  If you haven't studied the
Qabala yet, this may not make a lot of sense.  But
hang in there I don't digress often.

I like Clifford's approach.  He spent years
figuring out which card had the energy of each
path on the Tree of Life.  He made assignments
based on his knowledge of the cards.  The Golden
Dawn started at the top with the first Trump and
put the cards in order all the way down the Tree.
Unfortunately, a lot of people disagree with that
statement because they don't see the Fool as the
first card.  They see the Magician as Card One and
put the Fool at the end of the deck. Some place
the Fool between the Sun and Judgement.  Others
place it between Judgement and The World.

In spite of all the material written about the
Golden Dawn's way of doing things, I like these
other systems.  So I propose to spend the next few
weeks helping you assign the astrological signs
and planets to the Major Arcana.  We have the
right number: ten planets plus twelve signs equals
twenty-two cards numbered from zero through
twenty-one.  That's going to make it easy for us.
We should be able to match them up one-on-one
without a problem. <g>

Your assignment for this week, should you choose
to participate, is to review the planets and signs
so you can remember them all and maybe a little
bit about each of them.  Should you choose not to
participate at this time, I suggest you save this
series of notes for later.  If you continue
studying tarot you'll reach a point where this
material may come in handy.  In the meantime, have
a great week.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line.

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 10
March 16, 2003. In this issue:

1. Questions and Answers
2. Review of the Tarot Wayang book and deck
3. Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Ten

Thanks to Lisa Rush we salvaged a copy of
"How to Form a Tarot Network."   It's been
revised and posted to our website.  You can
read it at tarotinstitute.com and here's the
<a href="http://www.tarot.institute.com">Link</a>.

******************************
1. Questions and Answers
******************************
Q - You recommended I never do third party tarot
readings, but a couple of issues ago you did one
for your client.  Do you do third-party readings
for others and do you recommend I do them?

A - No I don't recommend doing third-party
readings.  I don't like to do them myself.  A
long-long time ago, <g> I was doing readings for
the local psychic fair when a woman begged me to
give her a reading for her son who was in trouble.
I had a long line of people waiting for me and was
anxious to get on with it (that's no excuse, mind
you), so I did her reading.  I was quite pleased
with the result.  She stood up and in the loudest
voice I think I've ever heard, she announced to
the whole world that she didn't have a son and I
was a fraud.

Well, you can just imagine the reaction and you
won't even come close to how miserable I felt.
People walked every which way but toward my table.
I spent the rest of the afternoon doing a reading
here and there but mostly watching other psychics
at work.  That whole experience had a profound
effect on my opinion about doing third-party
readings.

Occassionally I do break my rule about not doing
third-party readings, but I do tend to be more
cautious.

Q - I really have a problem understanding the way
astrological signs are assigned to the Major Arcana.
I'm a professional astrologer and the usual way of
assigning the cards to the astrological cards seems
contrived to me.  Is there a better way to do that?

A - Yes.  Design your own system that works for you.

I really don't mean that as flippant you might think.
The way the signs and planets are assigned to the
Tarot is contrived.  A few people decided this is the
way to do it, so they did it that way.  Later authors
adopted the same system because they were lazy
or because the believed what they read or because
they agreed with the first analysis.

The most important message here is you can make
these assignments in any manner you choose.  The
decision is yours to make.  Have fun.  This is a great
exercise and a wonderful learning experience even
if you do finally accept the predominantly used
system propagated by the Golden Dawn.

****************************************************
2.  Review of the Tarot Wayang book and deck

****************************************************

Certified Tarot Grandmaster Ani Sekarningsih lives
in Indonesia where she teaches and reads tarot.
In many ways she could be called the Rachel
Pollack of Indonesia.  She's an astute student of
tarot, an excellent writer in her native tongue, a
tarot reader's expert, a tarot reader and teacher
and just a delightful person to know.

Ani created the Tarot Wayang tarot deck and wrote
the Tarot Wayang book (ISBN 979-695-870-8)
published in Jakarta, Indonesia in late 2002.  The
book is printed in both English and Indonesian.
The deck is small by American standards being only
2 and 3/8 inches wide by 3 and 3/8 inches tall.
It fits a small hand rather nicely.  The cards are
much thicker than most American cards and feel
about twice as think as your standard tarot deck.
The cards are plastic coated and can be cleaned
with a wet rag.  They seem to wear well with use.

The designs on the cards are very unique but I'm
told they are based on historically recognizable
people and concepts in the Indonesian culture.
This is not your standard Golden Dawn-type tarot
deck.  It's based on the Buddhist culture which
dominates Indonesian society.  The characters in
the cards look more like puppets from a fantastic
dream world than real people.  They are puppets,
stick puppets held up by sticks controlling their
arms and hands.  You can see the sticks and the
hinges in their arms.

The pip cards are numbered 2-10 with AS standing
in for the Ace.  The court cards are the Emban,
Kesatria, Ratu and Raja but you'll quickly
recognize them as the Page, Knight, Queen and
King.  The Minor Arcana cards are all color coded
to designate the Element of the suit.  Air is
violet, Water is blue, Earth is green and Fire is
yellow.  This is the base color of the card and
the designs are painted over this base color.

Each card is a picture of a puppet set against the
background color with a number or name in the
upper right-hand corner.  The name of the card
appears at the bottom in Indonesian.  The meaning
of the card is given on the sides - left side in
Indinesian, right side in English.

The Major Arcana cards are painted on a black
background with the number at the top center of
the card.  The name is centered at the bottom and
the meanings are given on the sides.  The Fool is
Bagong and the meaning is "Choice."  The Magician
is Semar and the meaning is "Creative Power."  The
High Priestess is Dewi Saraswati and the meaning
is "Wisdom."  The Lovers are Rama and Sinta and
the meaning of this card is "Harmony."  Nice.

While the cards are not generally recognizable by
the American eye, and the meanings are a little
different that what most of us might expect, this
is an excellent tarot deck.  The meanings flow and
are very consistent with the esoteric meanings of
the Tarot.  I particularly love "Chaos" for Dasamuka
who happens to be Key Sixteen.  That says a lot
more to me than "The Tower."  It's also a more
pleasing card to look at.

You could use this deck just as it is without
referring to the book.  The cards explain
themselves very well and you could build a good
system for reading tarot cards using them.  But if
you can find your way through the language
barrier, you'll find some pearls of wisdom in this
book.  Here's a couple of examples of what I mean:

Page 69: "From now on you are expected to get
familiar in comprehending the background of the
Arcana cards as an element.  Whereas you know that
God created men out of these elements completed
with the soul."  You can most likely decipher the
writer's intention as an admonition to study the
elements until you understand them.  She also
alludes to the human soul as being composed of
these four elements - as is everything else in our
world.

Page 72: "The Court Cards is a personal depiction
of people, the interrogator, or a message."
Undoubtedly you know this refers to the client,
somebody in the client's life or a message to the
client.

Page 84: "Basic character values of Tarot decks
may degrade in a combination or if it is simply
consists of two cards, based on the structure of
the four elements and structure of Major Arcana,
Minor Arcana and Court Cards."  With a little work
you'll understand this to be a discussion of
Elemental dignities.  Certain combinations of
elements work well together, others don't.  The
author goes into some detail on this subject and
the knowledge she shares is well worth the time it
takes to ferret out her true message.

Collectors will enjoy having this new addition to
their collection.  People with small hands will be
thrilled with the size of the deck.  Serious
students will appreciate Ani's knowledge and the
message she delivers.  You're all invited to find
out more about this book, deck and Ani by visiting
her website at tarotwayang.com.  Don't let the
language barrier keep you from learning something
that might prove helpful.

My suggestion is to use this opportunity to learn
more about the culture and people from the fourth
most-populated country in the world (behind
China, India and Japan).   You'll see some great
pictures of some of the cards on her home page.
You'll learn a little more about the puppets in the
English portion of her website.  You might enjoy
the music while you're there.  I did.  I also like my
Wayang Tarot deck and book.

**************************************************
3.  Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part 10
**************************************************

Either-or questions can be handled as a yes-no
question by rephrasing the question.  Another way
is to assign the upright cards to option one and
the inverted cards to option two.  I used this
variation several weeks ago:

Q - Should I do the (blank) ritual today or wait
and do it later?  (Upright = now, Inverted =
later)

A - The inverted Six of Wands = later
A2 - (The next day) Inverted Two of Cups = later
A3 - (Day 3) Inverted Moon = later
A4 - (Day 4) Inverted Ace of Swords = later
A5 - (Day 5) Ten of Pentacles = today

An interesting aside is that day five just
happened to be February 16th, a Full Moon day.
Special rituals tend to work better for me if
started on the new or full Moon or first and third
quarter Moons.  My regular rituals seem to work
better for me if done just before sunrise.  I
don't have any idea what will work best for you.
But the good news is you can experiment and
discover the answer for yourself.

Q - What do the cards say in respect to these two
men in my life at this time or is there another
prospect on the way?

A - In answer to "Is there another prospect on the
way?" the card drawn was the Seven of Earth.  Yes,
there's another prospect on the way if you want to
wait for him or her to appear in your life.

In answer to the first question, the card for Man
#1 was the Inverted Devil.  He has a problem being
tied down in life and enjoys his freedom to be and
do what he wants when he wants to be and do it.

The card for Man #2 is the Hierophant.  He's a man
of habits who likes to do things in a set routine.
You can expect him to do what he's always done.

In answer as to which one is the better choice for
you right now the card was inverted Nine of
Swords.  This indicates Man #2 is the better
choice but it's not an easy choice for you to
make.  In answer as to whether the unknown
prospect would be a better choice than Man #2, the
card drawn was the inverted Ace of Pentacles.  No
he would not be a better choice at this time.
Good luck.

You'll notice I ended up doing four separate one
card readings for this compound question.  One of
my own rules for doing tarot readings is "One
question at a time."  That means I normally break
compound questions up into two or more questions
and answer.

A second rule is to answer the unasked question
hidden within the question actually being asked.
In this case, she didn't specifically ask which
man was a better choice, but that question
underlaid the one she did ask.

This concludes our discussion of Powerful One Card
Tarot Spreads using Dynamic Elemental Tarot
Spreads.  My  hope is you've found something to
help you along the way.  Your assignment this
week, should you choose to do it, is to continue
experimenting with various questions using the
Dynamic Elemental Tarot Spread.  In the meantime,
have a wonderful week.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line.

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 9
March 9, 2003. In this issue:

1. Questions and Answers
2. Review of "Inner Pathways to the Divine"
3. Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Nine

******************************
1. Questions and Answers
******************************

Q - What system are you using?  Can I use it too?

A - I'm using a system I designed for myself which
I call "Easy Tarot" because it's easy to learn and
use.  Yes, you can use it too, but you'll learn
much faster and do better readings if you design
your own system and use that.  Several people have
already asked me to talk about my system next.

I'm debating that issue with myself right now and
it looks like I may win.  Seriously, I'm leaning
toward showing you how to create your own system
rather than trying to spoon feed you my system.
It seems to me you'll have a better system for you
that way.  My system works for me, but I have no
idea if it'll work for you.  On the other hand, any
system you create will always work for you.  But
it may not work for me at all.

Q - Some time back you wrote an article for the
ATA about how to start a study group.  Do you
still have a copy of that article or know where I
can find it?

A - No, I sure don't.  If anybody just happens to
have a copy, please send it to me so I can
share it again.  Or if somebody would like to
write an article on how to start a study group,
I'd sure publish it on Tarot Institute.  Think
about it and see what pops into your head.

Q - How do you handle the situation where the
querent interprets the cards differently than you?

A - Tough question.  I use two different approaches
most of the time.  The first one is to explain that
my cards and I communicate with the words I'm
using.  If something else were being communicated,
a different card would appear in the reading.  I'll
give them an example of what card would be in my
reading to tell me what they think this card should
mean.  Then I explain my interpretation of my cards.

My favorite approach with people who read tarot is
to have them do the reading.  I write down their
question and have them pull the cards.  I ask them
what each card means to them and write it down.
Finally, I do the reading using the cards they've
pulled and the meanings they've assigned to each
card.  Once in awhile I even have them do the
reading and I keep them honest by reminding them
what any particular card means to them.

This is a good teaching technique and I love to
use it during the one-day seminars I teach.  You
have the students go through their rituals, write
down their questions, pull their cards, write down
the meanings of these cards and then do their
readings.  While they're doing their readings,
their partner makes sure the reading agrees
with the meaning of the card pulled.

This is the system I teach mentors to use via
email and over the telephone with their students.
It works the same way except the mentor is
the one keeping the reader on the right track.
I encourage you to try this system with the
next tarot reader who asks you for a reading.
They give themselves a reading under your
watchful eye.  You just empowered another
person and helped them become a better
tarot reader.  Congratulations in advance.

************************************************
2.  Review of "Inner Pathways to the Divine"
************************************************

I literally stumbled across this book.  Somebody
on the other side of the aisle pushed his or her
book into the book rack so hard, this book tumbled
to the floor right in front of me.  I picked it up.  The
author was Diane Toland, a tarot luminary in the
Northwest (dianetoland.com).  The publisher was
SunShine Press Publications in Colorado
(sunshinepress.com) -- never heard of them.

On the back cover Louise Hay, Lynn Andrews, Betty
Bethards, Gloria Benish and others had several
nice things to say about this book.  I sat down
just to peruse it.  A couple of hours later I
bought it.  Diane Toland really knows her stuff.

This is a book about the Major Arcana, about
exploring your spiritual self and becoming a
better person.  This book is a tool for
transformation, for spiritual growth, for
empowering yourself.  This is a book of wonderful
affirmations for each of the Major Arcana.  This
is a book for creating change in your life and
becoming what you want to become.

You'll learn how to create and use your own
personal Mandala.  You'll learn how to use each
card to explore who and what you are now, and who
and what you want to become.  You'll learn how to
use the affirmations for each card to help you in
this process.  You'll learn some action steps
including some simple rituals to help you along
the way.

I actually met Diane a couple of years ago at a
tarot conference in Portland, Oregon.  She wowed
the audience with the Major Arcana and made
quite an impression on the participants.  My guess
is this book is an outgrowth of her work as she
prepared for this wonderful seminar.  Maybe the
seminar was an outgrowth of her writing this book.

Either way, I recommend "Inner Pathways to the
Divine" (ISBN 1-888-604-17-4) and Diane Toland to
you as a wonderful resource for tarot readers traveling
a spiritual path, no matter what that path may be.  I
also recommend this book as a textbook to teachers
who want to teach an eleven week course in
spirituality by covering two Trumps each week.

While you can read through this book in a couple
of hours and forget it, I don't recommend that.  I
recommend you use it as a guidebook to further
your own spiritual enlightenment.  In my
experience, that takes longer than a couple of
hours.

**************************************************
3.  Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part 9
**************************************************

Questions beginning with "is" or "are" requiring a
yes or no answer can be handled a number of ways.
The easiest system to use is inverted cards for no
and upright cards for yes.

Q - Am I doing the right thing for me to (blank)?

A - Inverted Six of Cups = No, you're not.  To
which my client responded: "I though so."
Professional tarot readers can make a lot of money
confirming their client's intuitive insights are
correct. <g>

The second easiest method of answering yes-no
questions is to use the even-numbered cards for
yes and the odd-numbered cards for no.

Q - Am I going to get this job with (blank)?

A - Inverted Six of Cups (Six = yes).  Actually,
the card was upright, but my point is only the
number is critical in arriving at the answer using
this numerical method of answering yes-no
questions.

Q - Am I doing alright with my readings?

A - Inverted Key XVI The Tower = Awakening.  The
Tower card is not often seen as positive in many
systems, but here the answer is "yes" because
sixteen is an even number.  Additionally, the card
tells me you're having difficulty awakening to
the fact you're doing just fine with your tarot
readings.  My suggestion is to keep on reading and
believe in yourself.  At least, believe in your Higher
Self.

Another way is to use the feminine suits of Water
and Earth for yes and the masculine suits of Fire
and Air for no.  This can be called the Elemental
Approach while the previous one could be called
the Numerical Approach.

Using this system the Major Arcana cards say "I
don't know yet" or "maybe yes, maybe no."  And the
card drawn also explains why no answer is yet
available, or why the answer isn't available to
your client.  That's tricky, but it works.

Q - Did (blank) steal the money from the company?

A - This is the kind of question I really don't
like to answer for a number of reasons.  What if
I'm wrong?  Or maybe interpret a card wrongly?
What's going to happen to (blank) based on my
answer?  What kind of karma am I creating for
myself?  What's my client going to do with this
information?  Is it ethical to even try to answer
such a question?

So my standard response is something to the effect
the cards don't invade the privacy of other
people.  In this case, my client wouldn't let it
go.  Against my better judgement, and I certainly
don't recommend you or anybody ever does anything
against his or her better judgement, I pulled the
inverted Judgement card.  Was this card for me? or
my client?

That's the first thought that crossed my mind.
This card means Rebirth to me.  Inverted it
indicates a major issue in the individual's life.
I explained to my client the tarot won't say yes
or no.  What it does say is blank's going through
a major crisis in blank's life and the change will
be dramatic, like being born again.

Several days later I called my client to ask how
things came out.  She explained the employee came
to her, confessed everything and made full
restitution.  That sounded like a crisis and
rebirth situation to me.  Was I just lucky?  Maybe!

Q - Is March a good time for me to start a
part-time business reading tarot cards?

A - Queen of Cups =  yes (Water).  In this case,
the Queen also says a lot about this person's
abilities.  That's often the case using either of
these two methods of handling yes-no questions.

Q - Do your cards think this is a good time for me
to move in with (blank)?

A - Inverted Seven of Cups (Water = yes).  Yes,
but my cards also caution you to see things as
they are and not how you think they should be.

Your assignment this week, should you choose to
try it, is to do several "Is, Are? and Yes-No"
tarot spreads to answer questions for yourself and
your friends.  Next time we'll wrap up these
discussions of the Dynamic Elemental Tarot
Spreads.  In the meantime, have a great week.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line.

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three, Number 8
March 2, 2003. In this issue:

1. What's next?
2. Questions and Answers
3. Research Project
4. Review of the "Triple Goddess Tarot"
5. Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Eight

***************************
1. What's Next?
***************************

There are two more articles to finish this series
on Dynamic Elemental Tarot Spreads  So, what would
you like to discuss next?

******************************
2. Questions and Answers
******************************
Q - Where can I get copies of previous lessons?

A - Groups.yahoo.com/group/TarotNews/messages
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TarotNews/messages

Go there and you'll find all the current messages
for "Powerful One Card Spreads" there.
Unfortunately, earlier posts are no longer
available.  Sorry.

Q - Where can I get a free tarot reading?

A - If you do a search on the internet using the
key words "Tarot reading" + "Free," you'll find a
long list of places where you can obtain a free
tarot reading.

Q - What's the best website for finding out about
tarot?

A - My favorite is tarotpassages.com managed by
Diane Wilkes who does a tremendous job keeping
that website up and running with new and
interesting information.  You'll find more
information here than you can read in a week.  But
you'll want to spend that week reading what you
see.  It's that good.

Q - If I write a tarot deck review will you really
publish it?

A - Yes, if I like your review.  What I won't
publish are any reviews that trash the author,
publisher, book, deck or other people.  Life's
just too short and too precious to waste wallowing
in negativity.  If you found something helpful and
are willing to share it in a positive way, I'll
publish your review even if I disagree with you.
Fair enough?

******************************************
3. Research Project - Help Requested
******************************************
Linda Roan is writing a book on the lives of tarot
card readers.  For example, do they have relatives
who also read; do they come from a line of
"readers" of whatever sort (tea leaves); cultural
influences on and social attitudes towards tarot
card readers.  If you can assist her with this
research, please contact Linda directly at
stoph@... in Canada.  She'll really
appreciate your help.  <a
href="mailto:stoph@...">Email Linda</a>

*********************************************
4.  Review of "The Triple Goddess Tarot"
*********************************************

"The Triple Goddess Tarot" book and deck by Isha
Lerner and illustrated by Mara Friedman (ISBN
1-879181-94-0) with a Foreward by Vicki Noble and
an Epilogue by Dr. Tara McKinney is a wonderful
textbook about the mythology of the Triple
Goddess.  It's called mythology but it's really
all about spirituality.

The Triple Goddess Tarot Deck is a thirty-three
card pack consisting of twenty-six Alchemy Cards
and Seven Chakra Cards.  The latter represent the
seven power points of the body which can also be
called the Seven  Churches, the seven major
ganglia of the nervous system or the Seven
Sacraments.  The Alchemy Cards consist of the
twenty-two Major Arcana and four cards
representing potential stages of evolution beyond
that depicted by the normal trumps.

Thirty-three is an interesting number.  It's a
master number of perfection.  Christ is said to
have been crucified at age thirty-three.  There
are thirty-three degrees in Scottish Rite
Freemasonry and several other Masonic bodies.
With the addition of Da-ath to the Tree of Life,
it contains thirty-three paths.  Thirty-three is
also the number of the Divine Trinity in both
Eastern and Western religions.

The Triple Goddess Tarot Book presents seven new
spreads well worth the price of the boxed set.
Three of these are quite remarkable tools for
self-improvement and I recommend them to you.
They are the Trinity Rainbow Layout using seven
cards, the Moon Goddess Layout using three cards,
and the Seven Chakra Body Mapping.  The Body, Soul
and Spirit spread is an eight card version of the
often-used Body-Mind-Spirit spread.  The Soul
Message and Body Message layouts use one card for
very powerful insights into ourselves or our
clients.  The final spread really isn't a tarot
spread at all but a combined meditation ritual.

I love the names Isha's assigned to the Alchemy
cards.  Flying into Spring corresponds to the
Fool.  The Song of Creation is the Magician in a
little different role.  The High Priestess become
Sanctuary in the Triple Goddess Tarot.  The rest
of the cards have similar powerful and yet
beautiful names.  But it's not the names that
impresses me the most.  It's the way the author
encourages us to use each of the cards to
transform ourselves and awaken to the archetype of
the cards.  My favorite card right now is Alchemy
Card 24 - Infinite Potential.

This is not your general run-of-the-mill
Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot deck.  The cards are
uniquely different and pleasing to the eye.  The
traditional Tower card carries the name Kundalini
Rising in this deck.  That's a different message
than a falling tower.

I really like this deck for personal work and
spiritually-oriented tarot readings for clients.


**************************************************
5.  Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part 8
**************************************************

"Who, What, Where and Which" questions are
answered the same way as "How" and "Why"
questions using the Dynamic Elemental Tarot
Spreads.  The rules for responding to "Who,
What, Where and Which" questions are repeated
here for your convenience:

Rule Number One:  Decide which element is
expressed by the question.

Rule Number Two:  Prepare the deck and draw cards
from the deck using the method of your choice.
Keep drawing cards and placing them in piles
according to their element until you draw a card
of the element expressed by the question.

Rule Number Three: The last card drawn is the
answer to the question and any cards drawn prior
to the final card may be used to further clarify
this answer.

To do a one card reading, use only the last card
drawn, the one of the element chosen for this
reading.  Any other cards drawn for this reading
may be used for clarification purposes or ignored.
Interpret the card drawn according to the system
you choose to use and give the reading
accordingly.  You may expect the card to explain
exactly how or why the event mentioned in the
question is occurring.  It's up to you to use this
explanation to answer the question.

Alternatively, the top card for each element may
be used to do a more complete reading.  Again, any
cards beneath the top card can be used for
clarification purposes.  This technique will
result in a reading of one to five elements
depending upon how many cards were drawn for each
element before the element being sought to answer
the question.  You may not have drawn a card for
one or more of the elements.

The basic Dynamic Elemental Tarot Spread, where
cards are drawn until each of the five elements
has at least one card representing it, can be used
to give a five card reading over all of the
elements.  You may also choose to use any number
of elements for your reading.  My only suggestion
is to choose the elements before you draw any
cards to answer the question.  That way you keep
the lines of communication open with your own
subconscious mind.

Q - "Who's going to get the job I applied for?"

A - Inverted Two of Swords = Attitude of
Determination

This person knows what they want and project that
attitude for all to see.  That's the person who'll
get the job you applied for.  {P.S. it turned out to
be the client who was the "Attitude of
Determination" person.}

The essence of all "Who" answers is the card
describes an important, easy-to-recognize
characteristic about the person in question.

Q - "What's the best way for me to learn tarot?"

A - Inverted Devil = Become free of all
preconceptions

This card tells it all.  Forget everything you
know and think you know.  Let the cards teach
you how to read them.  All "What" questions
receive a direct and succinct answer.

Q - "Where will I find my soul mate?"  (same
client)

A - Inverted Strength = Weakness

The place where you find yourself most vulnerable
is the place of your weakness and that's where you'll
find your
soul mate.

Q - "Which place? A, B or C?"  (same client, yet
again)

A - Inverted High Priestess = Lack of Direction

Q - At this point I checked my deck to see if the
whole thing was upside down Major Arcana.  The
deck was fine.

The place where you feel a complete lack of
direction.  She said that was option C because she
couldn't find her way around that area at all but she
knew the other two areas quite well.  Then she said
something professional tarot readers hear a lot:
"I thought so, but I just needed confirmation."

Your assignment this week, should you choose to
try it, is to do several "What, Who, Where and
Which" tarot spreads to answer questions for
yourself and your friends.  Next time we'll take a
look at some ways of answering "Is, Are? and
Yes-No" questions.  In the meantime, have a
great week.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line.

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 7
February 23, 2003. In this issue:

1. Questions and Answers
2. Review of "Egyptian Pyramid Oracle"
      Reviewed by Sheila Hall, CTM
3. Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part Seven

***************************
1. Questions & Answers
***************************

Q - Do you make up your questions or are they real
ones?

A - Once in awhile I run a question just exactly
as it's asked.  Most of the time I receive more
than one question about the same thing.  With
those questions, I try to paraphrase what the
authors are asking so I can give a generic answer
that answers all the questions along the same
line.  So, you might say I edit real questions.

Q - Do you make up your readings or did you do
these readings for actual clients?

A - Most of the time I report on actual readings
done for clients.  The rest of the time I do
readings for myself.  Where sensitive material is
involved, I do rewrite the reading to protect my
client's anonymity.

Q - I just can't get a meaning that makes any
sense for Key XX.  What does this card mean for
you?

A - Different people have difficulty with
different cards.  It just happens.  Or there's
some deep psychological reason why this happens.
Either way, we all experience these kinds of
blocks.  When this happens, here's my suggestion:
read what a lot of authors have to say about that
card and select one meaning out of all the
possibilities.  Use this meaning as your key word
or phrase for that card until you change your
mind.

Key XX means different things to me depending upon
which deck and system I'm using.  With the Rider
Waite Smith deck I like to use the key word
"Resurrection."  With the Thoth deck, my favorite
key phrase is "Become anything you desire to
become."  Just pick something you like and go with
that until you change your mind.  That's my
suggestion.

Q - It makes me feel so dumb to ask you anything.
Do you mind if I ask you a question?

A - Not at all.  I really enjoy answering
questions.  Questions are an expression of
interest in learning and indicate the student is
working.  If you don't understand something,
please ask.  Questions make me happy.  So please
feel happy about asking me a question.  By the
way, questions are neither smart nor dumb.
They're just questions.  Questions deserve an
answer.  They're meant for each other.  If I don't
have an answer, I'll help you find one.

Q - You offered some homework for extra credit.
What does that mean?

A - If you want to try the extra credit questions,
you'll learn more.  More than anything though, the
statement was a reflection of my sense of humor.

****************************************************
2 "Egyptian Pyramid Oracle" by Verona McColl
A Review By Sheila Hall, CTM
****************************************************
The Egyptian Pyramid Oracle is a boldly, colorful deck
consisting of 25 cards and is rich with Egyptian symbols.
Verona McColl is the illustrator and writer of the
accompanying book. The deck divides into five houses,
and the houses are represented like the suits of a Tarot
deck, and are linked to the elements of Air, Earth, Fire,
Water, and Spirit. The houses are associated in this
manner:

Air - Inspiration
Earth - Wisdom
Fire - Power
Water - Change
Spirit - Temptation

Each house consists of five cards in the suit. The
cards are not numbered, but the name of the suit and
card appear on each one. The borders are symbolically
designed so that each suit is easily distinguished from
the others.

The deck comes with three additional cards. One card
shows a diagram of The Pyramid Spread, which
consists of six cards laid in the shape of a pyramid, and
a second card with the instructions for the spread
positions printed on it. The third card is printed with the
house and element associations, along with a brief
description of the meaning for each house.

The back is designed with a blue background that
fades into a white strip in the middle of the card, while
two triangles face opposite directions like looking at a
reflection. There are two cobras on both ends of the
cards and they appear to be emerging from behind a
circle.

The companion book is a lengthy 192 pages. McColl
begins the book with writing about the various forms
of divination, and a discussion of ancient Egypt and
the Egyptian's approach to symbols. She covers the
meanings of each house/suit in depth, including the
borders used for each house. The book shows black
and white illustrations along with an informative view of
the cards. The information for each card includes a
few keywords, a description and historical information,
and the card's meaning in upright and reversed
positions. The book covers dealing instructions and
the six-card Pyramid Spread, which is moderately sized
and informative.

A careful study of the symbolism is needed in order to
make reading with the deck easy. I like the historical
information provided for each card, and the 32 page
glossary of Egyptain terms that is included at the end of
the book. The book is informative and I have been able
to learn quite a bit about the symbols of this deck.

The Egyptian Pyramid Oracle is a deck which
measures half an inch wider than a standard Tarot deck,
and is detailed with Egyptain symbols. The colors are
bold and beautiful. McColl uses a multitude of varying
shades in blue, green, orange, red, brown, black, white
and yellow to provide the deck with the rich colors.
Those who are interested in Egypt and Egyptian
symbols should enjoy this oracle very much.

The Egyptian Pyramid Oracle (ISBN 1-56718-448-0)
is published by Llewellyn and can be viewed at:
http://www.llewellyn.com/bookstore/book.php?pn=K448

**************************************************
3.  Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part 7
**************************************************

"How" and "Why" questions are answered in much the
same way as "When" questions using the Dynamic
Elemental Tarot Spreads.  The rules for responding
to "How" and "Why" questions are modified only
slightly from those given last week for "When"
questions:

Rule Number One:  Decide which element is
expressed by the question.

Rule Number Two:  Prepare the deck and draw cards
from the deck using the method of your choice.
Keep drawing cards and placing them in piles
according to their element until you draw a card
of the element expressed by the question.

Rule Number Three: The last card drawn is the
answer to the question and any cards drawn prior
to the final card may be used to further clarify
this answer.

To do a one card reading, use only the last card
drawn, the one of the element chosen for this
reading.  Any other cards drawn for this reading
may be used for clarification purposes or ignored.
Interpret the card drawn according to the system
you choose to use and give the reading
accordingly.  You may expect the card to explain
exactly how or why the event mentioned in the
question is occurring.  It's up to you to use this
explanation to answer the question.

Alternatively, the top card for each element may
be used to do a more complete reading.  Again, any
cards beneath the top card can be used for
clarification purposes.  This technique will
result in a reading of one to five elements
depending upon how many cards were drawn for each
element before the element being sought to answer
the question.  You may not have drawn a card for
one or more of the elements.

The basic Dynamic Elemental Tarot Spread, where
cards are drawn until each of the five elements
has at least one card representing it, can be used
to give a five card reading over all of the elements.
You may also choose to use any number of
elements for your reading.  My only suggestion is
to choose the elements before you draw any cards
to answer the question.  That way you keep the
lines of communication open with your own
subconscious mind.

Q - Why is (blank) treating me this way? (I'll
consider this a Water question)

The cards drawn are: Key VIII Strength = you have
the fortitude to do it.  Four of Wands reversed =
love intuitive insights.  Key V Hierophant =
Intuition.  Five of Cups = anger in relationships.
This last card is the one I'm looking for.  It
tells me she's angry with me in our relationship.
O.K. she's angry.  Now what?  Well, the previous
cards tell me to use my intuition, love those
intuitive insights and rely on my own strength to
resolve this issue.

Gee that worked out so well it almost looks
contrived.  But I really did draw the cards at
random and I was looking for an answer and I got
one.  I'm going to ask the same question about
another person who's treating me with great
respect and attending to my every wish.  Let's see
how that comes out.

Q - Why is (blank) treating me this way? (I'll
consider this a Water question too)


The cards drawn are the inverted Six of Pentacles
= desire in material things.  Inverted Three of
Pentacles = understand material things.  Inverted
King of Wands = verify intuitive insights.  Wheel
of Fortune = what goes round, comes round.
Inverted Page of Cups = justice in friendships.
The inverted Page of Cups tells me she's treating
me fairly as a friend in the manner in which she
sees me treating her.  Our friendship is
emotionally balanced.  The other cards can help me
clarify this answer.  The definitions of these
cards speak for themselves.

Q - How can I resolve the financial issues for
(blank company)?  (I'll consider this an Earth
question)

The cards drawn are the Key XIX The Sun =
illumination.  Inverted Ace of Cups = beginning of
a friendship.  Two of Cups = intention to create a
relationship.  Key X Wheel of Fortune = what goes
round, comes round.  Inverted Page of Wands =
intuition is right.  Inverted Knight of Cups =
change in thinking about the friendship.  Queen of
Pentacles = change in behavior regarding money.

There's the rub.  The company needs to change
their behavior regarding money.  This means they
need to change the way they handle their financial
affairs.  To clarify this issue, look at the
previous cards going back in order.  They need to
change their thinking about their friendship with
money.  They need to trust their intuitive
insights and know that what they do with money is
how money will treat them.  They've been using
money to create relationships.

As I study this spread, I've got to tell you it's
so true but I've never looked at this company in
that light before.  They have been trying to "buy
friends" in the world of commerce.  That never
works.  All you ever do is spend money and receive
little or nothing in return.  That leads me to the
next question.

Q - How do I tell them (the above company) these
things?  (It's still an Earth question)

The cards drawn are Key XX Judgement = rebirth.
Two of Pentacles = money intentions.  This one is
a little more difficult and requires some thought.
The phrase "money intentions" means to look at
what you really want to accomplish, what your real
intentions are.  This tells me to approach the
officers with this question for analysis.  Out of
this will come a "rebirth" in the way which they
choose to use their money.  I peeked at the first
card for a little bit of clarification.

Aftermath: I won't go into a lot of detail, but I
did exactly as the cards suggested.  The officers
agreed they needed to change the way they've been
spending a lot of money and they're setting up new
spending policies.  It's a change from feeding the
"Good Old Boys Network" to more intelligently
prospecting for customers.   The net result will
be a savings of a considerable amount of money
they couldn't afford in the first place.  Intuitively,
I feel they'll have a lot more success with their
new marketing approach.

Your assignment this week, should you choose to
try it, is to do several "How" and "Why" tarot
spreads to answer questions for yourself and your
friends.  Next time we'll take a look at some ways
of answering "Who, What, Where and Which"
questions.  In the meantime, we're still soliciting
tarot deck and book reviews.

Namaste and have a great week,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line.

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 7
February 23, 2003. In this issue:

1. Questions and Answers
2. Review of "Egyptian Pyramid Oracle"
      Reviewed by Sheila Hall, CTM
3. Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part Seven

***************************
1. Questions & Answers
***************************

Q - Do you make up your questions or are they real
ones?

A - Once in awhile I run a question just exactly
as it's asked.  Most of the time I receive more
than one question about the same thing.  With
those questions, I try to paraphrase what the
authors are asking so I can give a generic answer
that answers all the questions along the same
line.  So, you might say I edit real questions.

Q - Do you make up your readings or did you do
these readings for actual clients?

A - Most of the time I report on actual readings
done for clients.  The rest of the time I do
readings for myself.  Where sensitive material is
involved, I do rewrite the reading to protect my
client's anonymity.

Q - I just can't get a meaning that makes any
sense for Key XX.  What does this card mean for
you?

A - Different people have difficulty with
different cards.  It just happens.  Or there's
some deep psychological reason why this happens.
Either way, we all experience these kinds of
blocks.  When this happens, here's my suggestion:
read what a lot of authors have to say about that
card and select one meaning out of all the
possibilities.  Use this meaning as your key word
or phrase for that card until you change your
mind.

Key XX means different things to me depending upon
which deck and system I'm using.  With the Rider
Waite Smith deck I like to use the key word
"Resurrection."  With the Thoth deck, my favorite
key phrase is "Become anything you desire to
become."  Just pick something you like and go with
that until you change your mind.  That's my
suggestion.

Q - It makes me feel so dumb to ask you anything.
Do you mind if I ask you a question?

A - Not at all.  I really enjoy answering
questions.  Questions are an expression of
interest in learning and indicate the student is
working.  If you don't understand something,
please ask.  Questions make me happy.  So please
feel happy about asking me a question.  By the
way, questions are neither smart nor dumb.
They're just questions.  Questions deserve an
answer.  They're meant for each other.  If I don't
have an answer, I'll help you find one.

Q - You offered some homework for extra credit.
What does that mean?

A - If you want to try the extra credit questions,
you'll learn more.  More than anything though, the
statement was a reflection of my sense of humor.

****************************************************
2 "Egyptian Pyramid Oracle" by Verona McColl
A Review By Sheila Hall, CTM
****************************************************
The Egyptian Pyramid Oracle is a boldly, colorful deck
consisting of 25 cards and is rich with Egyptian symbols.
Verona McColl is the illustrator and writer of the
accompanying book. The deck divides into five houses,
and the houses are represented like the suits of a Tarot
deck, and are linked to the elements of Air, Earth, Fire,
Water, and Spirit. The houses are associated in this
manner:

Air - Inspiration
Earth - Wisdom
Fire - Power
Water - Change
Spirit - Temptation

Each house consists of five cards in the suit. The
cards are not numbered, but the name of the suit and
card appear on each one. The borders are symbolically
designed so that each suit is easily distinguished from
the others.

The deck comes with three additional cards. One card
shows a diagram of The Pyramid Spread, which
consists of six cards laid in the shape of a pyramid, and
a second card with the instructions for the spread
positions printed on it. The third card is printed with the
house and element associations, along with a brief
description of the meaning for each house.

The back is designed with a blue background that
fades into a white strip in the middle of the card, while
two triangles face opposite directions like looking at a
reflection. There are two cobras on both ends of the
cards and they appear to be emerging from behind a
circle.

The companion book is a lengthy 192 pages. McColl
begins the book with writing about the various forms
of divination, and a discussion of ancient Egypt and
the Egyptian's approach to symbols. She covers the
meanings of each house/suit in depth, including the
borders used for each house. The book shows black
and white illustrations along with an informative view of
the cards. The information for each card includes a
few keywords, a description and historical information,
and the card's meaning in upright and reversed
positions. The book covers dealing instructions and
the six-card Pyramid Spread, which is moderately sized
and informative.

A careful study of the symbolism is needed in order to
make reading with the deck easy. I like the historical
information provided for each card, and the 32 page
glossary of Egyptain terms that is included at the end of
the book. The book is informative and I have been able
to learn quite a bit about the symbols of this deck.

The Egyptian Pyramid Oracle is a deck which
measures half an inch wider than a standard Tarot deck,
and is detailed with Egyptain symbols. The colors are
bold and beautiful. McColl uses a multitude of varying
shades in blue, green, orange, red, brown, black, white
and yellow to provide the deck with the rich colors.
Those who are interested in Egypt and Egyptian
symbols should enjoy this oracle very much.

The Egyptian Pyramid Oracle (ISBN 1-56718-448-0)
is published by Llewellyn and can be viewed at:
http://www.llewellyn.com/bookstore/book.php?pn=K448

**************************************************
3.  Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part 7
**************************************************

"How" and "Why" questions are answered in much the
same way as "When" questions using the Dynamic
Elemental Tarot Spreads.  The rules for responding
to "How" and "Why" questions are modified only
slightly from those given last week for "When"
questions:

Rule Number One:  Decide which element is
expressed by the question.

Rule Number Two:  Prepare the deck and draw cards
from the deck using the method of your choice.
Keep drawing cards and placing them in piles
according to their element until you draw a card
of the element expressed by the question.

Rule Number Three: The last card drawn is the
answer to the question and any cards drawn prior
to the final card may be used to further clarify
this answer.

To do a one card reading, use only the last card
drawn, the one of the element chosen for this
reading.  Any other cards drawn for this reading
may be used for clarification purposes or ignored.
Interpret the card drawn according to the system
you choose to use and give the reading
accordingly.  You may expect the card to explain
exactly how or why the event mentioned in the
question is occurring.  It's up to you to use this
explanation to answer the question.

Alternatively, the top card for each element may
be used to do a more complete reading.  Again, any
cards beneath the top card can be used for
clarification purposes.  This technique will
result in a reading of one to five elements
depending upon how many cards were drawn for each
element before the element being sought to answer
the question.  You may not have drawn a card for
one or more of the elements.

The basic Dynamic Elemental Tarot Spread, where
cards are drawn until each of the five elements
has at least one card representing it, can be used
to give a five card reading over all of the elements.
You may also choose to use any number of
elements for your reading.  My only suggestion is
to choose the elements before you draw any cards
to answer the question.  That way you keep the
lines of communication open with your own
subconscious mind.

Q - Why is (blank) treating me this way? (I'll
consider this a Water question)

The cards drawn are: Key VIII Strength = you have
the fortitude to do it.  Four of Wands reversed =
love intuitive insights.  Key V Hierophant =
Intuition.  Five of Cups = anger in relationships.
This last card is the one I'm looking for.  It
tells me she's angry with me in our relationship.
O.K. she's angry.  Now what?  Well, the previous
cards tell me to use my intuition, love those
intuitive insights and rely on my own strength to
resolve this issue.

Gee that worked out so well it almost looks
contrived.  But I really did draw the cards at
random and I was looking for an answer and I got
one.  I'm going to ask the same question about
another person who's treating me with great
respect and attending to my every wish.  Let's see
how that comes out.

Q - Why is (blank) treating me this way? (I'll
consider this a Water question too)


The cards drawn are the inverted Six of Pentacles
= desire in material things.  Inverted Three of
Pentacles = understand material things.  Inverted
King of Wands = verify intuitive insights.  Wheel
of Fortune = what goes round, comes round.
Inverted Page of Cups = justice in friendships.
The inverted Page of Cups tells me she's treating
me fairly as a friend in the manner in which she
sees me treating her.  Our friendship is
emotionally balanced.  The other cards can help me
clarify this answer.  The definitions of these
cards speak for themselves.

Q - How can I resolve the financial issues for
(blank company)?  (I'll consider this an Earth
question)

The cards drawn are the Key XIX The Sun =
illumination.  Inverted Ace of Cups = beginning of
a friendship.  Two of Cups = intention to create a
relationship.  Key X Wheel of Fortune = what goes
round, comes round.  Inverted Page of Wands =
intuition is right.  Inverted Knight of Cups =
change in thinking about the friendship.  Queen of
Pentacles = change in behavior regarding money.

There's the rub.  The company needs to change
their behavior regarding money.  This means they
need to change the way they handle their financial
affairs.  To clarify this issue, look at the
previous cards going back in order.  They need to
change their thinking about their friendship with
money.  They need to trust their intuitive
insights and know that what they do with money is
how money will treat them.  They've been using
money to create relationships.

As I study this spread, I've got to tell you it's
so true but I've never looked at this company in
that light before.  They have been trying to "buy
friends" in the world of commerce.  That never
works.  All you ever do is spend money and receive
little or nothing in return.  That leads me to the
next question.

Q - How do I tell them (the above company) these
things?  (It's still an Earth question)

The cards drawn are Key XX Judgement = rebirth.
Two of Pentacles = money intentions.  This one is
a little more difficult and requires some thought.
The phrase "money intentions" means to look at
what you really want to accomplish, what your real
intentions are.  This tells me to approach the
officers with this question for analysis.  Out of
this will come a "rebirth" in the way which they
choose to use their money.  I peeked at the first
card for a little bit of clarification.

Aftermath: I won't go into a lot of detail, but I
did exactly as the cards suggested.  The officers
agreed they needed to change the way they've been
spending a lot of money and they're setting up new
spending policies.  It's a change from feeding the
"Good Old Boys Network" to more intelligently
prospecting for customers.   The net result will
be a savings of a considerable amount of money
they couldn't afford in the first place.  Intuitively,
I feel they'll have a lot more success with their
new marketing approach.

Your assignment this week, should you choose to
try it, is to do several "How" and "Why" tarot
spreads to answer questions for yourself and your
friends.  Next time we'll take a look at some ways
of answering "Who, What, Where and Which"
questions.  In the meantime, we're still soliciting
tarot deck and book reviews.

Namaste and have a great week,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line.

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 6
February 16, 2003. In this issue:

1.  Questions and Answers
2.  Call for Reviews
3.  Problems Reading Newsletter
4.  Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part Six

***************************
1. Questions & Answers
***************************

Q - Do you consider Basic Dynamic Elemental Tarot
Spreads to be five card tarot spreads?

A - Yes, regardless of the number of cards drawn,
because the basic spread has one position for each
of the five elements.  But you can also use less
than five elements and create spreads like Mind,
Body, Relationships, or Body, Mind, Emotions,
Intuition.  You can use any combination of elements.

Q - Tell me more about using reversed elements.

A - The easiest way to define reversed or inverted
elements is to first make a list of all the
possible definitions for each element.  Then
select one key word or phrase for each element.

This is the definition for that element in the
upright position.  Now select a second definition
not related to the first for each element.  That's
the definition for that element in the inverted
position.

In the system I've been using for most of the
example readings, Fire is careers while inverted
Fire is Intuitive Insights,  Water is Romantic
Relationships while inverted Water is Emotional
Issues, Air is Thoughts and Ideas while inverted
Air is Attitudes, Earth is Finances and inverted
Earth is Health.  These work well for me with
several different decks.  You'll need to decide
what works best for you.  I can't tell you that.

Q - You say beginners can use any tarot deck and
in your review of the I AM ONE deck you said you
didn't recommend it for beginners.  Which is
correct?

A - In my opinion, any tarot deck is a good deck
for beginners if you're drawn to that deck and it
speaks to you.  In my review I said I wouldn't
recommend the "I am One" tarot deck to rank
beginners.  On the other hand, if a beginner who
knew nothing about tarot felt drawn to that deck
and wanted to use it, I would support him or her
in that choice.

I do have a slight bias for seeing beginners use
"standard" tarot decks.  By this I mean decks that
follow the Golden Dawn tradition like B.O.T.A.,
Waite, Thoth, Cicero and all the variations thereof.
I also prefer to see beginners use decks with
scenes depicted on each card as opposed to just
the suit objects without a scene depicting their use.
But these are biases, personal opinions and a
matter of personal taste.

The important thing is that beginners choose a
deck they like, one they want to use, one that
feels comfortable to them, one that speaks to
them.  If you're drawn to the "I am One" tarot
deck, I recommend you use it.

Q - If I don't believe tarot will give me the
right answers, will it?

A - Probably, but you probably won't believe it.
In my experience, the tarot always gives me the
right answers to every question.  Also in my
experience, I'm a little skeptical and I don't
always believe the answers I receive.  I've
adopted a habit of writing down every reading I do
for myself just so I can re-evaluate the reading
and measure the accuracy of my own readings.

Even after almost fifty years of doing tarot readings
for myself, I'm amazed at my ability to misinterpret
the cards in my own readings every once in awhile.
Thankfully it doesn't happen as often as it once did.

**********************
2.  Call for Reviews
**********************

Several readers have mentioned they'd like to read
reviews from other readers.  Some even volunteered
to write a review or two.  This strikes me as a
good idea.  It's always nice to hear somebody
else's opinion.  It's fun to share the things we
like and dislike.  Writing reviews is a helpful
step in most certification programs.  Writing
helps us prepare to teach because it forces us to
really know our subject matter.

We'll publish original reviews and republish
reviews you've already published elsewhere.  We'll
add them to our website and we'll publish them in
this newsletter.  All we need now is a review of
some tarot deck or book from you.  Your
submissions will be appreciated.  You can send them
via email to TarotNews-owner@yahoogroups.com
or to my email address as shown in the header of
this message.  Thanks.

*************************************
3.  Problems Reading Newsletter
*************************************

Several readers have written asking me to stop
sending out the TarotNews newsletter in HTML.

I don't.  I send it out as a text file just like regular
e-mail.  If you receive this newsletter as a web
page in HTML, here's how to fix it:

1. Go to YahooGroups and log in using your
Username and Password.  This will take you to
your own personal "MyGroups" page.

2.  Click on the "Email Preferences" option toward
the top of your "MyGroups" page.

3.  Here you may add or edit your email address.

Click on the link labeled "options" at the end of the
line showing your email address.

4.  The second group of options listed there is labeled
"Message Format."  Here's where you select to
receive your emails in HTML format or as text files.
Unless you have a preference, the "Do not convert to
HTML option" is probably the better option.

*************************************************
4.  Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part 6
*************************************************

"When" questions as a group are difficult for most
beginners and even some experts.  The Dynamic
Elemental Tarot Spreads offer one way of answering
"When" questions efficiently and effectively.  The
rules are easy to remember:

Rule Number One:  Decide which element is
expressed by the question.  This requires you to
have good definitions for the types of things
related to each element.  If the question is about
the client's work, you need to decide if this is
an emotional issue (Water) or an intellectual one
(Air).  It may simply be a work question which you
need to assign to either Fire or Earth.

Rule Number Two:  Prepare the deck in any way you
decide.  Draw cards from the deck using the method
of your choice.  Keep drawing cards and placing
them in piles according to their element until you
draw a card of the element expressed by the
question.  This is the last card you'll draw from
the deck.

Rule Number Three: The last card drawn is the
answer to the question as to when something will
happen.  It will happen just as soon as the event
depicted by the card drawn occurs.  Time is
irrelevant.  When the client does what the card
advises him or her to do, the desired event will
occur.

Rule Number Four:  The cards drawn prior to the
final card depict events which will also need to
occur, but not necessarily in the order drawn.

Here's an example using the Rider-Waite-Smith
deck.  My client asked "When will find a job?"
which I took to be a Fire question (career).  The
cards drawn (by element in the order drawn)
were:

Spirit:         Hierophant, Tower reversed
Water:  Six of Cups
Fire:   Four of Wands reversed  (last card)

In the system being used the fours have to do with
love and the sixes with balance of the emotions.
The Hierophant is Intuition and the reversed Tower
is a call to wake up.  Reversed Wands refer to
intuitive insights.  My interpretation was:  As
soon as you start listening to your intuitive
insights, you'll find a job you love.  In order to
do this you'll need to become less emotional about
finding a job - balance your mind, heart and
spirit.  You'll also need to wake up and listen to
your intuition.

The client discussed these issues with me.  She
agreed she dismisses her intuitive insights as
false beliefs and illusions of grandeur.  She
agreed she's started to panic about a job and she
believes this panic has scared off a couple of
prospective employers.  She asked for help in
overcoming her fears and we created an amulet to
help keep away these negative feelings of fear and
panic.  (Yes, the moon was waxing and I broke one
of Donald Michael Kraig's suggested rules for
amulets.  But in his book Don gave us all
permission to break the rules.)   She also
identified the kind of job she'd really like to
have.  In my experience, knowing what you really
want is the first step in attaining it.

This wasn't a one card tarot reading, but it could
have been done that way.  The first three cards
drawn could have been ignored and I could have
used only the inverted Four of Wands to answer her
question.  If she asked for further clarification,
I could use the other cards or just the second to
last card drawn.  This raises an interesting
question about how to keep track of both the
element and the sequence of the cards.

I do it by laying the cards out in five columns
and placing the second card on top of the first so
both cards can be identified.  You might think of
this as setting up five columns of solitaire.  I
have Spirit on the left followed by Fire, Water,
Air and Earth in that order.  That works for me.
I have no idea what will work best for you.  But
the good news is you can figure that all out for
yourself.

Your assignment this week is to try answering a
few "When" questions using the approach suggested
here.  Then for extra credit you can create your
own method for answering "When" questions.  Next
time we'll take a look at some ways of answering
"How" and "Why"  questions.  In the meantime, have
a great week.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line.

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 5
February 9, 2003. In this issue:

1. Questions and Answers
2. Review of "Tarot & Magic"
3. Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part Five

***************************
1. Questions & Answers
***************************
Q - Do you use reversals in your readings?

A - Yes.  We'll discuss reversals later in this series of articles about
Dynamic Elemental Tarot Spreads.  My favorite way of handling reversals is
to define the inverted elements.  For example, upright Fire in the system
I'm using for these articles represents careers and work.  Inverted Fire in
this system is intuition, inspiration, and insights.  The rest of the
system is Air = ideas, Earth = money, Water =

Q - Will you ever discuss anything but one card draws?

A - Yes.  One card tarot spreads are the basic building blocks of all tarot
spreads in my opinion.  If you can do a good one card tarot reading, you
can do a twenty-card tarot reading.  If you can't do a good one card tarot
reading, you'll be able to do a poor rendition of the Celtic
Cross.  Thousands before you have proven this to be so.  In my experience,
those students who do a good one card tarot reading become very good tarot
readers regardless of the spread they're using at the time.  To me, one
card tarot readings are the basic tool for tarot readers.

Q - Does it matter if I interpret the cards in your reading differently?

A - Yes, if you're trying to understand how I do a reading.  No, if you're
doing the reading.  That's why I write out the name of the cards drawn and
the meaning of those cards before I give my reading.  That's a good habit
whenever you do readings for yourself or while you're learning to read the
cards.  The chances are you'll change the meanings for several cards over
the next few months or years.  What's important is the meaning you assigned
to the cards at the time you did the reading.  Write it all down so you
don't forget.  That's my suggestion.

Q - Where do "Elements" come from and what do they really mean?

A - Many different authors give many different sources for the
elements.  The early Greek philosophers probably came up with the idea from
the Egyptial Mystery Schools and/or the oral tradition of the
Kaballah.  The idea was to explain the world in which we live.  Today we
use the elements to explain the different types of human
consciousness.  Earth is our material world and survival mind.  Water is
our emotional world and emotional mind.  Air is our mental world and
intellectual mind.   Fire is our intentional world and intentional
mind.  Some people say our Earth mind is our animal or instinctual
mind.  Others claim Fire is our desire or intuitive mind.

A2 - The elements are generally defined by most authors along these
lines.  However, each of us has the right to define the elements any way we
want to define them.  Therefore, the elements really mean what each of us
wants them to mean for us.  I think the elements are the building blocks
God or Goddess (singular or plural) uses to create the physical universe in
which we live.  That definition works for me.  I have no idea what
definition will work for you.
It's your decision.

********************************
2. Review of "Tarot & Magic"
********************************

Over the past seven years, I've watched Donald Michael Kraig mature into a
wonderful and effective teacher at tarot conferences around the
country.  He's been a best-selling author for Llewellyns longer than I can
remember.  His "Modern Magick" is not only a Llewellyn best-seller, it's
widely referred to as the magician's bible.  In his latest book, "Tarot &
Magic" (ISBN 07387-0185-8) published by Llewellyn, Don combines his
best-selling way with words and his master teacher skills to produce a
truly remarkable tarot book for beginners and experts alike.

If you know nothing about magic, you'll find this book to be invaluable in
helping you create talismans, amulets, spells and performing effective
magic.  If you're a master magician, you'll find ways to improve your
skills and methods for teaching others to do magic quickly and
competently.  If you know next to nothing about tarot, you'll find this
book a great tool for learning all about your cards.  I dare say even tarot
experts will learn a thing or two as well.

You'll learn how to use tarot cards as magic and to create magic rituals,
talismans and amulets.  You'll learn how to use the tarot in pathworking
and astral travel.  You'll learn how to dance the tarot and help your
clients do the same thing.  We're not talking polka here, it's more like
walking through one card and into another.  You'll even learn a little
basic ceremonial magic.

There's no hocus pocus here.  Don's no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is
approach to magic is easy to understand and even easier to replicate.  he
doesn't ask you a memorize a lot of things.  Rather he asks you to
understand the process and then create your own magic.  There's one
caveat:  You can probably read this book several dozen times and get very
little out of it.  Or, you can follow his instructions, create your own
rituals and be doing magic before you finish the second chapter.  You'll
have the same opportunity for the next seven chapters.

I've been creating spells, talismans and amulets for years.  I've been
pathworking and astral traveling for years.  I've taught hundreds and
hundreds of people how to do these things.  I've learned a lot from this
book and my next class will be using it as their textbook.  That's how much
I value "Tarot & Magic" by Donald Michael Kraig.  I recommend it to you
without any reservation whatsoever.  Now I've got to do a divination to see
if my planned talisman will have a positive effect or not.  That's one of
Don's suggestions I really, really like.

*************************************************
3.Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part 5
*************************************************

I've been experimenting with the "I am One" Tarot deck these past two
weeks.  Here's a few readings I've done for myself and others:

Q - What effect will the proposed talisman have on prospective students?

A - Reversed Knight Two Headed Serpent (Fire) whose motto is: "I am
Authority of Energy."

This talisman is intended to increase the self-esteem of the students in a
class I'm teaching on peak performance.  The reading tells me the energy
will help them improve their self-esteem and thus improve their
performance.  I went ahead and created this talisman.

Q - What effect will this ritual have on my friend?

A - Eight of Two Headed Serpent (Fire) whose key phrase is: "I am swift
passage."  This means things will move rather quickly once the ritual is
completed.  I completed the ritual.  Within twenty-four hours she was
called for an interview.  The interview went very well.  We'll have to wait
a couple of weeks for the final outcome.  She's been looking for a better
position for at least the past six months.

Q - If I but a new car right now, will I be able to afford it?

A - (Yes, this is the actual question).  Nine of Curved Blade (Air), Knight
of Curved Blade, Reversed Queen of Two Headed Serpent (Fire), and the
Reversed Six Stone of Age (Earth) which means "Success"  Reversed, this
card means: "not success."  My reading was unless things change, she
wouldn't be able to afford it.  She indicated that's what she thought but
she just wanted confirmation.

The basic Dynamic Elemental Tarot Spread uses five positions, one for each
of the five elements.  The process is to prepare the deck in the manner you
prefer, choose the cards in any manner you desire, and keep pulling cards
until you have one card in each of the five suits.  Place subsequent cards
in the same suit on top of the card or cards already pulled in that
suit.  here's a sample reading:

Q - If the President declares war against Iraq, what will happen to my son
(he's in the National Guard)?

Spirit =  Key 14 (The Reverser), Key 12 (The Hanging Man)
Fire = Seven of Two Headed Serpent
Water = Nine, Queen Pear of Tears
Air = One Curved Blade (last card drawn)
Earth = Knight, Seven, Two, Eight Stone of Age

Key 12 is the Master Redeemer.  The Seven of Two headed Serpent calls for
evaluation of the situation before taking action.  The Queen of Tears is
the Authority of Reason in all emotional situations.  One Curved Blade is
news.  The Eight Stone of Age is Magnetism.  My readings was at this time
the cards indicate her son will receive news regarding the war and be drawn
into it.  He will handle difficult situations well and return victorious.

If further information is needed about any one element, the cards beneath
the top card can be used for that purpose.  In the reading given, no
further information was needed.  She already knew her son was on alert and
could be going to the Middle East at a minutes notice.  She was glad to
hear he would survive and return home.

Any question can be answered by the basic Dynamic Elemental Tarot
Spread.  The reader can either select the element that best answers the
question or let the cards select the element based on the cards drawn.  One
way is to select the last card drawn.  Another is to select the top card in
the pile with the most cards.

A third way of using the Dynamic Elemental Tarot Spread is to first decide
what element will best answer the question being asked.  Then draw one card
using the selection process of your choice.  Interpret this card as though
it were in the element desired.  If it actually is, then give the reading
added emphasis.  Here's an example:

Q - What will happen if I ask the boss for a raise next week?

A - I decided this was an Earth question.  The card drawn was the Seven of
Cups which means Delusion or Illusion.  Interpreted in terms of Earth, this
means to me the raise in question is an illusion.  The fact the card drawn
was Cups also indicated this is an emotional issue with my client.  After
sharing this insight we discussed other options for additional income
besides asking for a raise that probably won't materialize.  During this
discussion I learned he'd asked for a raise a couple times and been turned
down.  He didn't think there was much chance this time either.

You might want to play with several variations of the Dynamic Elemental
Tarot Spreads to see which one works best for you or create your own
variation.  Next time we'll take a look at some ways of answering "When"
questions.  In the meantime, have a great week.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line.

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 4
February 2, 2003. In this issue:

1. Apology for Being Gullible
2. Questions and Answers
3. Review of "I am One" Tarot
4. Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part Four

*******************************
1. Apology for Being Gullible
*******************************
Words of wisdom from the Dali Lama sounded too
good to be true.  It was.  Unfortunately, the
attachment to my last newsletter is a hoax, albeit
a rather insightful one at that.  The Dali Lama
didn't write those words of wisdom.  I don't know
who did.  Several readers informed me that hoax
has been around for more than three years.  It
only recently came to my attention.

  From this you may infer: 1) John's way behind the
times, 2) John gets conned easily, 3) Some hoaxes
last longer than others, 4) Some hoaxes have
positive messages anyhow, or 5) the Universe
teaches us what we need to learn when we're
ready to learn it.  Please accept my apology for
forwarding this hoax to you.   If you'd like more
information on this particular hoax, please check out <A
href="http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/dalai.htm">Snopes.com</a>

*******************************
2. Questions and Answers
*******************************

Q - What happens when I get a big pile of cards
before I finally draw a card in the right suit to
answer my question?

A - Nothing really.  Just keep piling the cards,
face up, on top of each other.  When you complete
the reading and need further clarification, use
the top card of the discard pile for further
information.  There are a couple of other ways of
using the discard pile.  One, you can use any
cards from the Major Arcana as a special message
for your client (or yourself).  Just make certain
your subconscious mind is aware you're going to do
that before you start the reading.  We'll discuss
this issue in more detail later.

Q - The first card I drew was in the suit I
needed.  But it didn't give me much of an answer.
How do I get more of an answer about my question?

A - You have several options.  Choose one that
works for you.  First, you can draw one or more
additional cards from the pack to give you
clarification.  Secondly, you can do a second
reading using the same question.  Yes, you can ask
the same question again.  In my opinion, what
happens is the second reading explains the first
one in more detail.  The answers you've already
received don't go away, you merely gain more
information.  When I use this technique, I don't
pick up the original reading, I just add another
reading to it.

You can wait for some period of time - a month,
a week, a day, an hour, whatever amount of time
you want to wait - and do another reading.  You
can ask another deck the same question.  You
can use some other form of divination for more
information like a pendulum or the runes.  You
can meditate on the problem, contemplate the
issue, pray over it, or even do a ritual.

Q - What deck do you recommend?

A - The deck of your choice.  I believe very
strongly that some decks speak to us as
individuals and some decks don't.  Decks I like
may not appeal to you at all.  And, as strange as
it might sound, some of your decks may not appeal
to me.  What's important is: 1) you like the deck
you use, 2) you feel comfortable with that deck,
3) the deck "speaks" to you, and 4) you choose to
use that deck for yourself.  So, I recommend the
deck of your choice.

Q - I can't come up with a good meaning for the
(blank) card.  What does it mean?

A - More than twenty readers asked versions of
this question.  I wrote an article "The Meanings
of the Tarot Cards" which has been posted to our
<a href="http://www.TarotInstitute.com">Tarot
Institute</a> website.  Hopefully this will answer
most of these questions.  If it doesn't, please
let me know.

*********************************
3, Review of "I am One Tarot"
*********************************

"I am One" is a tarot deck for advanced students,
collectors and art aficionados.  It's not a deck
I'd recommend to rank beginners.  The suits are
Two Headed Serpent (Fire), Curved Blade (Air),
Pear of Tears (Water), Stone of Age (Earth), and
Universal Law (Major Arcana).  Fire is the
spiritual aspects of one's life.  Air, Water and
Earth represent the usual Mental, Emotional and
Physical parts of life.  The court cards are
called "Authority Cards" composed of the Knight,
Queen, Price and Princess.  Each is an authority
on some subject relating to the element of the
suit involved.

The author/artist Maya Britan describes each card
with a short phrase printed at the bottom of each
card in French, English and Spanish.  Now you know
why I don't recommend this deck for rank
beginners.  The meanings are printed right on the
cards so the reader has no reason to learn them.
For the occasional party trick, that's fine.  But
for serious tarot reading it's important for the
reader to get to know his or her cards as friends
and connections to the Divine.  At least, that's
my opinion.

Did I mention this is a gorgeous deck.  It's
absolutely beautiful.  Each card is a work of art.
The Authority cards are easily recognized as
people in the Earth and Water cards.  The Air
Authority cards are more symbolic and the Fire
Authority cards even more so.  The forty pip cards
are excellent for meditation because of the great
depth the artist is able to obtain.  The colors
are exquisite and vibrant.  The features pop out
at you or recede into infinity.  It seems like you
can see forever.  That's a good thing for most
meditation practices.

The Major Arcana is based on the Tree of Life
paths though each path is represented by a Master
of that path.  The author's done a good job
renaming each path and Master to make a coherent
whole which is consistent with the Kaballah.  The
Magician becomes The Changer who's described as
the Master Communicator.  The High Priestess
becomes The Mother who's the Master Creation.  As
you progress through the Majors a familiar story
emerges.  It's the story of creation and our life.
It's the story about how we improve ourselves and
travel a spiritual path.

The "I am One" Tarot (ISBN 0-943832-33-0) created
by Maya Britan and published by US Games is
available on-line at <A
href="http://www.saint-art.com">www.saint-art.com</a>
or though your local bookseller.  By the way, the
little white book is also written in English,
Spanish and French.  It gives a bunch of
divinatory meanings for each card.  But I wouldn't
buy the deck just to get this booklet.  I'd buy it
because it's a beautiful and educational deck.

*****************************************************
4. Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part 4

*****************************************************

Client number one asked: "When will I get a job
offer?"

My process is to first decide which Element is
expressed by the question.  In this system, jobs
and careers are Fire and Fire is represented by
Wands.  The cards drawn for this reading, in
order, were Page of Coins, The Moon, The Tower,
The Magician, Ten of Wands.  In this system, the
Ten of Wands means carrying a heavy load.  The
answer to this person's question is: "As soon as
you stop carrying a heavy load."

My client asked for clarification.  The top card
in my discard pile was The Magician which in this
system means one needs to pay attention to his or
her spiritual path.  So I told my client: "The
Magician card in this reading indicates you need
to pay attention to your spiritual path and then
all things will come to you."  She said she
understood exactly what the cards were telling
her.  That pleased me because the next card in the
pile is a big "Wake-up" call.  Sometimes I wonder
if that card is for me (he said as he chuckled to
himself).

Client number two asked: "Is Tom the right one for
me?"

Using the process being explained, I use Cups for
Water and Water is relationships.  The cards drawn
for this reading were Four of Swords and the Four
of Cups.  The Four of Cups in the system I'm using
means "Love in spite of all other emotions."  I
told my client: "Tom loves you for who and what
you are."  She said: "Yes, but is he the right one
for me?"

I looked at the only card in my discard pile and
told her: "The Four of Swords means Love in spite
of all thoughts and ideas to the contrary."  She
agreed that explained Tom very well: "But, is he
the right one for me?"  My response was: "These
two cards tell me he is, yes because he loves you
in spite of negative thoughts and emotions."  She
wasn't convinced.

I said: "Let's draw another card.  If that card's
upright, the answer is yes; but if it's inverted,
the answer is no.  I turned the next card.  It was
the Knight of Cups which in the system being used
means one who brings love into your life.  I
explained this to her.  She smiled and said: "I
thought so, but I just wanted confirmation."

Client number three asked: "Will my mother recover
from her surgery?"

Surgery is an Earth question for me.  I drew the
following cards:  Justice, Five of Swords, High
Priestess, Page of Coins.  The Page in this system
represents a person who brings good health to you.
I explained to my client the Page represented a
person who was helping her mother recover.  So the
answer to her question is "yes, the cards believe
your mother will recover from this surgery."  Then
I gave her all the disclaimers explaining how
health questions should be answered by competent
medical practitioners.

My client saw the High Priestess face up on the
table and asked if that was a good omen.  My
response was yes, the High Priestess is a card of
spiritual balance and that's a good omen.  She
agreed.  Later that week she called to say her
mother was recovering just fine.  It's nice to get
confirmation once in awhile.

Client number four asked me to do a reading for
her son who was recently arrested.  I really don't
like to do readings for a third party because you
never know if there really is a third party or
not.  I explained that reading for somebody who
isn't present at the reading is difficult but she
kept saying: "Please!"  I drew the following
cards:  Nine of Cups reversed, Death, Three of
Swords, The Devil reversed.  The Devil card in
this system is a card of bondage, of being tied
down to the affairs of this world.  When reversed
it often indicates addictions of one kind or
another.  I explained this to my client.  She sat
there without saying a word.

Usually in this situation I just wait until the
client responds.  But this time, I pointed to the
Three of Swords and told her that card often means
somebody's heart is being broken.  She said it was
her heart because her son was caught selling drugs
to kids to pay for his own habit.  Then she asked
if there was anything else I could add.  I looked
at the next card and told her that her son was in
for a big change in his life and that change would
be beneficial for all concerned.  She agreed he
was in for a big change and hoped I was right
about it being beneficial.  But she wanted to know
why I thought it would be beneficial.  My answer
was because the Death card was right side up.  If
it had been upside down the changes might not be
all that good.

Client number five is me.  I asked the cards what
I needed to know about my diet.  The card I drew
was the inverted Strength card.  In the system I
was using, the Strength card means you have the
strength to see it through.  Inverted it means
this is a problem to be addressed.  What this
means to me is the problem I need to face is not
my diet but my weakness for food.  Once I tackle
this problem the diet will take care of itself.

Pure words of wisdom and I knew it.  It sure
dampened my enthusiasm for eating a piece of cake
for lunch.  But the message was loud and clear.
It usually is whenever I ask the cards anything.

I hope these examples help you gain a little more
confidence in your own tarot reading skills.  Next
time we'll look a little more closely at Dynamic
Elemental One Card Tarot Spreads.  In the
meantime, have a great week.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved. Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News newsletter
on line.

Gentlepeople,

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 2
January 19, 2003. In this issue:

1. Questions and Answers
2. Review of "Inner Child Cards Workbook"
3. Message from the Dali Lama  (GoodKarm.pps)
4. Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part Three


*******************************
1. Questions and Answers
*******************************

Q - I've been trying to copy and paste Part I of
Dynamic Elemental Tarot Spreads.  No luck. Is
there a reason for that.  I want to print it out.

A - There are several answers to this question: 1)
Some E-mail programs have a File Menu with a
"Save As" option which can be used to save the
highlighted material, 2) In others you must open a
"New File", cut the material from the original
newsletter, paste it to the new file and save the
new file, 3) In others you can save the whole
E-mail in a new file and then edit it.  Hope this
helps.

Q - Why don't you copyright the things you teach?

A - We will copyright the new material now that
you suggest it.  The first two issues were pretty
much a review of things I've previously published
in the public domain.  You're free to use that
material any way you want.

Q - May I use your lessons as part of my tarot
classes?

A - Yes.  I'd appreciate it if you also publish
my name as the author and the Tarot Institute as
the source of any of my material you use in your
classes.  What I don't give you permission to do
is publish my material and sell it to other people.
Fair enough?

Q - Where's the best place to get certified?

A - As much as some people might believe it's the
closest mental health hospital, I recommend the
two recognized tarot certification boards:  1) <a
href="http://tarotcertification.org">Tarot
Certification Board of America</a>, and 2) <a
href="http://www.americanboardfortarotcertification.org">American
Board for Tarot Certification</a>.  In Canada,
it's the <a
href="http://www.tarotcanada.com">Canadian Tarot
Certification Board</a>, and in Europe, it's the
<a
href="http://www.tarotcertification.org/europe">The
European Certification Board</a>.  Several other
countries and groups have indicated they're also
setting up certification boards.  We'll place
links to all of them on our website as we hear
about them.

Q - Besides you, who else publishes a free
newsletter?

A - Lots of people.  A couple of ways of finding
newsletters is to go to <a
href="www.yahoogroups.com">Yahoo Groups</a> or <a
href="http://www.topica.com">Topica</a> and search
using the key word "tarot."  You'll also find lots
of tarot discussion groups.  You're welcome to
join most of them.  A few are restricted
membership groups.

Q - Do you mind if I forward your newsletter to my
friends?

A - No, you may freely forward my newsletter to
anybody, anytime.  You may also invite them to
subscribe for free.

Q - How come the number of subscribers has dropped
so much from over 1600 to almost 1500?

A - We had over 200 "hard bounces."  This means
that in the last six months - our "down" period -
200 plus people cancelled the E-mail account they
were using to receive our newsletter.  All of the
"hard bouncers" have been deleted from the mail
list.  People also subscribe and cancel their
subscriptions from time to time.  The number of
subscribers is nothing more than just that, the
number of subscribers.

Q - When are you going to have your website back
up on the Internet?

A - My plans are to have it completed by April 1st
because that's such an auspicious date.  Actually,
let's just say by the end of March this year. <g>

********************************************
2.  Review: Inner Child Cards Workbook
********************************************
I met Isha Learner through her books about
a year ago.  She wrote the wonderful "Power of
Flowers" book and deck set which I find just
delightful.  It's not a tarot deck but it can be
used for both divination and meditation.  I use
the "Healings" and "Blessings" in Isha's booklet
for divination.  I use the cards for meditation.

Karen Forkish beautifully illustrated this
meditative and healing deck.  US Games published
it as "Power of Flowers: An Archetypal Journey
Through Nature" in 1999 (ISBN 1-57281-196-X) and
Isha wrote the booklet.  But I digress.

The "Inner Child Cards Workbook" is an
instructional manual into spiritual learning, a
guide to traveling a spiritual path, intense
self-improvement lessons, a book of questions
requiring insight and introspection, and a source
of life-changing affirmations all in one.  But
wait, there's more.

I just couldn't resist saying that because as I
read over what I said, it sounds almost too good
to be true.  Keep in mind any book is just a
suggestion.  The work is up to you.  I just think
Isha's done an excellent job of pulling all this
material together.  Each of the Major Arcana
traditional meanings and keywords for divination
are given in the text.  Then the author explains
one Fairy-Tale relating to each card.  This is
followed by thought-provoking questions and a list
of affirmations derived from the card.  All of
this is given in Chapter Eight.

In the first seven chapters, Isha discusses the
feminine in fairy tales and how this relates to
the tarot.  She discusses initiation, enchantment
and awakening according to the fairy tales.  Isha
uses fairy tales to explain the archetypes of the
soul and how these are mirrors to humanity.  She
includes four new tarot spreads to help us on our
spiritual journey and discusses additional ways to
use the "Inner Child Cards."  In my experience,
you can use any tarot deck of your choosing with
this workbook, though the illustrations do help me
understand Isha's points easier.

The illustrations are from the "Inner Child Cards:
A Fairy-Tale Tarot" by Isha and Mark Lerner.  The
"Inner Child Cards Workbook" (ISBN 187-918189-4)
by Isha Lerner and illustrated by Christopher Guilfoil,
is published by Inner Traditions * Bear and Company
(800-246-8648).  I recommend this book to students
serious about learning more than they already know
about themselves and those who want to improve
their own spirituality and self-esteem.  I don't recommend
it to collectors who'll put it on a bookshelf and forget it.
That would be a gigantic waste of something very good.
Thanks Isha for sharing.

**********************************
3. Message from the Dali Lama
**********************************

The Dali Lama evidently issued a message for the
New Millenium that's been circulating.  I love
this message and wanted to share it with you.
It's contained in the file attached to this
newsletter named "Good Karm."  You can also find a
copy in the files section of <A
href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TarotNews/">TarotNews</a>
on Yahoo.  I hope you find this as inspiring and
spiritual as I do.

**************************************************
4. Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part 3
**************************************************

In part one we considered several options for
defining the elements.  In part two we examined
possible ways of assigning each element to one
of the five tarot suits. In this part we'll define the
Dynamic Elemental Spreads and start reading.

To understand this part you'll need to know what
suits are assigned to which elements and you'll
need to know the definitions for the elements.

Step one: State your question in any form that can
be answered by the tarot cards.  Do not ask any
ridiculous or unanswerable questions.  It's easier
if you state your question starting with what, when,
which, why, where, who or how.  I suggest you
write down your question exactly as you want it
anytime you ready for yourself.  In the beginning,
this is a good idea for all your readings until you
become proficient.

Step two: Decide which element best reflects the
essence of the question.  Some questions span
more than one element.  That's fine, just make a
note of it.  It's not a problem.  The choose one
element for the first reading.  (You can choose
other elements for subsequent readings.)

Step three: Mix the cards in any way you choose
and select one card from the deck using any
method of choice you desire.  It's not important
how you do these things.  What's important is
that you select a method and verbalize it so your
emotional, intuitive, and subconscious minds all
know what you're going to do.

Step four: Continue this process until you select
a card of the same Element as the Question.  Set
aside all the other cards (face up) in a separate pile
at this time.  You may or may not use them as part
of your reading.

Step five: Write down the card drawn and the
meaning of this card if you're a beginner or if
you're doing this reading for yourself.  If you're
already a tarot reader, make a mental note of
the card drawn and its meaning.

Step six:  Tune into this card and use it to
answer your question.  If you're a beginner or
doing this reading for yourself, I suggest you
write out your reading for this card.

Step seven:  If you need further clarification,
use the top card in your discard pile.  If you
don't have a discard pile (the first card you drew
was the element you were seeking) use this
as a sign the answer is ambiguous at this time.
If necessary, you can use the next cards, from
top to bottom, in the discard pile to help explain
the answer to your question.

I pay special attention to any Spirit cards in my
discard pile.  I've developed a relationship with my
subconscious mind to always tell me what I need
to know all the time.  I've come to expect my own
subconscious mind to communicate to me through
this discard pile.  It's funny, but it seems every time
a Spirit card appears in my discard pile it brings an
important message to me.  When I'm doing a reading
for another person, the Spirit card is an important
message for him or her and not me.

Your assignment this week is to play with this
concept and see if you don't think this is a
powerful way of doing one card readings.  Next
week I'll share a few examples with you to
demonstrate how easy and accurate this system
really is.  Until then, have a great week.

Namaste,
John

Copyright 2003 by John Gilbert and the Tarot
Institute, all rights reserved.  Tarot News may be
used by teachers to assist students in learning
tarot as long as the source is quoted and students
are taught how to access the Tarot News
newsletter on line.

Gentlepeople,

Thanks for all your positive comments and support
for continuing Tarot News.  I appreciate it very much!

This is Tarot News Volume Three Number 2 January
19, 2003.  In this issue:

1. Questions and Answers
2. The Free Tarot Network
3. Ghostwriter and Website Creator/Manager
4. Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part Two

*******************************
1. Questions and Answers
*******************************

Q - Do I have to define the elements to learn
these spreads?  Can I define them differently than
you?  Will this cause me any problems?

A - Yes, this group of spreads depends upon how
you define the elements and how you assign the
elements to the tarot suits.  But the one thing
you absolutely don't have to do is use any
definitions I suggest.  I know what works for me,
but I have no idea what will work for you.  You
need to make that decision for yourself.  If you
try to use my ideas as your own, it may cause you
problems.  You may have a problem memorizing my
words or doing things my way.  But, if you use
your own ideas and do things your way, you'll
probably enjoy success.

Q – Do I have to use the same elements you do?

A – No, not at all.  Choose your own elements.
Using the Oriental Elements of Water, Wind, Earth,
Wood and Metal also works quite well.  Just use
the concepts being discussed and adapt them to
your own method.  Create your own elements.  Use
any five elements you choose.  The choice is
yours.

Q - Who's behind Tarot News and why?  Who writes
the newsletter?  Who’s gnosticjohn?

A - Tarot News is a publication of The Tarot
Institute.  Allan Curthoys and myself created the
Tarot Institute on September 1, 1999.  I'm John
Gilbert and I write Tarot News.  We lost our
website in September 2002 and have been trying to
rebuild it since then.  (Anybody remember the name
of our webmaster?)  The only thing we were able to
recover was our Tarot News subscription list.
That's how we knew you were a subscriber.  As soon
as we can rebuild the site, we'll invite you to
visit us there.  GnosticJohn is my Yahoo Profile.

Q - Will the Tarot Institute ever offer the
correspondence courses they used to offer?

A - We invite any person who wants to create a
correspondence course to use the Tarot Institute
as a home base whether you publish an E-book,
Newsletter, Correspondence course or Tarot deck.
The answer is yes we expect to offer
correspondence courses over our website.

Q – Haven’t you already taught Dynamic Elemental
Tarot Spreads?

A – Good question.  Yes, but what we’re discussing
in these newsletters is a new way of looking at
Dynamic Elemental Tarot Spreads.  This is all new.

*****************************************
2. THE FREE TAROT NETWORK
*****************************************

The <a href=http://www.freetarot.net>Free Tarot
Network</a> is a wonderful place for tarot
students to practice their skills and become good
tarot readers.  When you join, you’re assigned to
a mentor who guides you in learning to read the
cards in a professional manner. This is a great
way to develop your Tarot reading skills with real
clients and it can be a great stepping-stone
towards reading the Tarot professionally.

If you have workable definitions for each of the
78 tarot cards, I recommend the Free Tarot Network
to you.  Check them out and see what you think.

***********************************************
3. Ghostwriter/Publisher/Web Manager
***********************************************

If you need someone to produce your newsletter, or
to help you publish articles, you might want to
take a look at an interesting option:
<A href=”http://www.debram.net”>debram.net</a>.
Take a look at her portfolio and BPW Newsletter.
Debra puts this monthly newsletter together and
publishes it herself.  She formerly managed the
website for the Tarot Certification Board and
volunteered to help on several web projects for
the American Tarot Association.  I found her easy
to work with, very creative and dedicated.  I
recommend her services to you.

*****************************************************
4. Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part 2
*****************************************************

In part one we considered several options for
defining the elements.  Hopefully you have some
key words, phrases or concepts you've decided to
use for each of the five elements.  In this part,
we're going to examine the possibilities for
assigning each element to one of the five tarot
suits.  In part three we'll define the Dynamic
Elemental Spreads and start reading.

AIR.  Air is usually assigned to the suit of
Swords but several authors assign Air to the suit
of Wands.  In some decks other things like
Daggers, Birds or Flying things are used instead
of Swords. Air is generally considered to be a
masculine element.  Your assignment is to look at
your tarot deck and decide what suit best fits the
Air element for you.

FIRE.  Fire is usually assigned to the suit of
Wands but several authors assign Fire to the suit
of Swords. In some decks things like Rods, Staffs
or Staves or Batons are used instead of Wands.
Fire is generally considered to be a masculine
element.  Your assignment is to look at your tarot
deck and decide what suit best fits the Fire
element for you.

WATER.  Water is generally assigned to the suit of
Cups.  Caldrons, Rivers, Lakes, Chalices and other
containers are used in some decks instead of Cups.
Water is considered to be a feminine suit.  Your
assignment is to look at your deck and decide what
suit best fits the Water element for you.

EARTH.  Earth is generally assigned to the suit of
Pentacles.  Coins, Disks, Trees or other plants
and land are used in some decks instead of Earth.
Earth is generally considered to be a feminine
suit.  Your assignment is to look at your tarot
deck and decide what suit best fits the Earth
element for you.

SPIRIT.  Spirit is generally assigned to the Major
Arcana.  Your assignment is to look at your tarot
deck and decide what suit best fits the Spirit
element for you.

Next week we'll take up the third step, which is
defining Dynamic Elemental Tarot Spreads.  In the
meantime, I suggest you spend some time this week
assigning the elements to the tarot suits the way
you want them assigned.

In the meantime, have a wonderful week!

Namaste,
John

Gentlepeople,

Here's hoping you have a wonderful 2003!

Welcome back to Tarot News.  We hope you'll find
this newsletter informative and helpful.  This is Volume
Three, Number One, January 12, 2003.  In this issue:

	 1. Caution: Web Beacons
	 2. Artist needed for new tarot deck
	 3. Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part One

***********************
1. Caution: Web Beacons
***********************

You may be aware that Yahoo uses what they call
"Web Beacons" to invade your privacy (with your
permission) in order to see what you do on the
Internet.  How Yahoo uses this information is not
clearly stated in the Yahoo Privacy Policy.  It's
all set up so when you join you must check the box
that says you agree with their Privacy Policy.
Web Beacons are mentioned in that policy.  We all
gave them permission to invade our privacy when we
joined Yahoo Groups.  That's the bad news.

The good news is Yahoo recently updated their
Privacy Policy so you may now "opt-out" of this
"voluntary" invasion of your privacy.  To opt-out,
go to the Yahoo Privacy Statement and scroll down
about half way to the section headed "Outside the
Yahoo Network."  Here you'll see a link labeled
"click here" to withdraw your permission for them
to invade your privacy.  Once you clink on that
link, you're opted out and Yahoo will no longer be
able to find out where you are on the Internet and
your reason for being there.

You'll be taken to a "Success" screen which you
must exit by clicking "Return to Yahoo Policy."
If you click anything else on that page, you
cancel your opt-out request and Yahoo has your
permission to check where you are and what you're
doing anytime you're on the Internet.  If you
don't get redirected to the "Success" screen,
start over and repeat the process once again.
Here's the link to the Yahoo Privacy Policy
<a
href="http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy/us/pixels/details.html">Web
Beacons</a>.

You can also find the Yahoo Privacy Policy by
going to the Yahoo <a
href="http://www.yahoo.com">home page</a> and
following their links to the Yahoo Privacy Policy.

*******************************
2. Artist Needed for Tarot Deck
*******************************

Artists interested in designing 78 tarot cards for
publication are invited to contact this
newsletter.  The style is open for discussion but
the author is looking for something along the line
of the classical images of the Seven Virtues.  The
deck is being created on speculation and the
artist will receive 50% of all royalties and other
payments.  The deck will be submitted for
publication when the Major Arcana are completed.

*******************************************
3. Powerful One Card Tarot Spreads - Part 1
*******************************************

The first set of spreads we'll consider are what I
call the Dynamic Elemental Spreads.  We'll begin
by defining each of the five elements.  Then we'll
assign each element to one of the five tarot
suits.  Then we'll define the Dynamic Elemental
Spreads and start reading.

It'll really help if you've already defined each
of the seventy-eight tarot cards with the meanings
and interpretations you want to use.  The better
you know and understand your cards, the easier
these spreads will be to use.  At the very least,
you will need to know one key word, phrase or
concept for each card.  It's even better if you
have both the upright and reversed meanings for
each card well defined.

Fire.  Fire is usually defined as "will" or the
"will to do something."  Fire is the driving force
behind everything we do.  It's the drive we have
to accomplish anything, the desire we have to do
anything.  Fire is therefore usually considered to
be will, will-power, determination, intention,
perseverance, drive, eagerness, zeal, zealousness,
avidness, enthusiasm, desire, fortitude,
single-mindedness, passion, gusto, inspiration,
insight, intuition, career, work, and occupation.

Water.  Water is usually defined as
"relationships" or "emotions."  Water is the
receptive power that enables us to interact with
our environment and each other.  It's the
acceptance we have things the way they are and the
way we'd like them to be.  Water is therefore
usually considered to be relationships,
friendship, amity, love, emotions, fondness,
liking, warmth, affection, devotion, tenderness,
romance, adoration, adulation, attachment,
admiration, addiction, craving, and feelings of
hopelessness, helplessness and unworthiness.

Air.  Air is usually defined as "thought" or
"ideas."  Air is the ability to think both
consciously and subconsciously.  Some people even
include "unconsciously."  It's the basis for
knowing, understanding and communicating.  Air is
therefore usually considered to be thought,
cogitation, ideas, concepts, conception,
perception, contemplation, meditation, hope,
expectations, planning, order, organized,
pondering, planning, goal-setting, understanding,
wisdom, opinion, orientation, disposition,
reaction, psychological, attitude and demeanor.

Earth.  Earth is usually defined as "possessions"
or "things."  Earth is the material world and
everything in it.  It's the physical reality in
which we live.  Earth is therefore usually
considered to be things, possessions, objects,
articles, utensils, property, belongings, assets,
worldly goods, the physical body, health,
condition, fitness, disease, illness,
constitution, vigor, money, currency, cash or
wealth.  Some authors also consider Earth to be
personality, nature, temperament, grooming,
clothing and things we wear to express our
personality.

Spirit.  Spirit is usually defined as our
"spirituality" or our "spiritual path."  Spirit is
the essence of life within us that's expressed as
our individuality.  It's also the spiritual path
we're traveling to become a better person than we
are now.  Spirit is spiritual, spirituality,
sacred space, psychic, nonmaterial, our inner
being, and our awareness.

The first step in learning how to use Dynamic
Elemental Tarot Spreads is to define the five
elements.  We each get to define these elements
any way we want.  It doesn't matter how we define
them.  It doesn't matter if we're the only person
in the world that defines the elements in this
way.  What matters is that we really understand
what these definitions mean to us.  These
definitions are the vocabulary we'll use to
communicate with our own subconscious mind.  We're
just using tarot cards to help our conscious and
subconscious minds communicate.

Next week we'll take up the second step which is
assigning the elements to the tarot suits.  In the
meantime,  I suggest you spend some time this week
defining the elements the way you want them
defined.  Have fun!

Namaste,
John