Gentlepeople,

Welcome to 2008! I hope this is an abundant and
healthy year for you and that you attain all of
your goals and ambitions for the year.

If your plans include learning more about Tarot,
I invite you to revisit the Tarot Institute
(TarotInstitute.com) at least once a month. We're
posting one new teaching module each month and
updating our website this year.

During January we're posting a series of articles
on how to start your own church in the USA under
the new IRS guidelines. Canadians, Europeans and
members of the British Commonwealth will find
this helpful. It seems other countries like to
follow the IRS changes but charge higher taxes
for about the same thing. You should find it
interesting reading...

UNIVERSAL LAW NUMBER THIRTEEN

Universal Law Thirteen admonishes us to imagine
future possibilities. Imagine the future
possibilities of your health, finances and body
(Earth). Imagine the future possibilities of your
relationships and reactions to life (Water).
Imagine the future possibilities for improving
your mind and attitude (Air). Imagine the future
possibilities for your career, hobbies and the
things you love to do (Fire). Imagine the future
possibilities of you spiritual path.

As an aside, all of the Major Arcana cards can be
used to express the action of that card in the
four worlds, the four elements, as well as in the
spiritual realm.  We use Key 1 (Path 11) to
remind us to pay attention to the four worlds in
addition to our spiritual world. We use Key 2
(Path 12) to remind us to remember something in
the four worlds as well as our spiritual world.

Path 13 is the path of Key 3, the Empress. She
reminds us to use our imagination to imagine the
future possibilities of our lives in the four
mundane elements and our spiritual lives.

Universal Law Eleven is about the here and now.
We pay attention in the present moment. Universal
Law Twelve is all about the past. We remember
things in the past. Universal Law Thirteen is
about the future. We imagine things in the
future. These three universal laws eleven, twelve
and thirteen represent the present, past and
future.

That's the way it's supposed to work in a healthy
mind, body and spirit.  We can spend a lot of
time paying attention to the past or the future
rather than the present. We can spend a lot of
time imagining a different past rather than
paying attention to the present. We cal also
spend a lot of time remembering instead of paying
attention and living in the present moment.

One of the great lessons of Tarot is to remember
the past, imagine the future but to live in the
ever-present now. We do that by remembering (Path
12) what we need to stay happy and healthy in the
present. We do that by imagining (Path 13) what
we need to stay happy and healthy in the present.

There is so much depth in each and every Tarot
card. It's exciting to know these cards, feel
their love and energy and use them for personal
growth and enlightenment. They are a mirror of
who we are. If we pay attention to this mirror,
remember our past and imagine our future, we can
actually become the person we came here to
become.

Tarot is a wonderful tool. We are the master of
this tool to use as we want. My fervent prayer as
we enter this new year is you will use Tarot as a
tool for your own enlightenment and the
enlightenment of others.

Namaste,
John

Gentlepeople,

Universal Law Three is the Law of Belief.
Basically, this law says that you bring into your
life only what you believe with every fiber of
your being. Unless you believe you can, you
cannot. Whatever you believe you cannot, you
cannot. It is only what you believe you can, that
you can. But...

Just because you believe doesn't mean it will
happen. But, if you don't believe, there's no
chance it will ever happen.

The problem with believing is this: If you
believe something will happen because you've
thought it through and through, it may happen.
But it will only happen if you believe it with
all of your heart, mind and soul. If you know in
your heart it won't happen, it won't. If you
intuitively feel it won't happen, it won't.

That's not always negative. Sometimes you don't
want something to happen. If your heart and soul
believe it won't happen, it won't unless --
unless your mind is afraid it will happen. What
we fear will happen  so occupies our mind that's
all we can think about. Our mind is not dedicated
to helping us manifest what we believe we can
manifest. It probably won't happen.

That's the way the Law of Belief operates.

On the Tree of Life, Awareness is the top-most
sphere. Thus being aware is the beginning of
everything. We can do nothing unless we are first
aware it is possible. Of the two spheres in the
second row from the top, the one on the right is
Intention. We can do nothing unless we intend to
do it. The sphere on the left is Belief. We can
do nothing unless we believe we can with every
fiber of our being. These are Universal Laws 1,


Universal Law Eleven is Path Eleven between
Awareness and Intention. This is the Path of
Attention. Universal Law Twelve is the Path of
Remembering and Path Twelve on the Tree between
Awareness and Belief. Universal Law Thirteen is
Path Thirteen, the Path of Imagination between
Intention and Belief.

Together, spheres 1, 2 and 3 and paths 11, 12 and
13 form the World of Air, the World of the Mind.
For it is here in our minds that we become aware,
create intentions, form beliefs, pay attention,
remember and imagine. These six Universal Laws 1,
2, 3, 11, 12, and 13 control what the mind can
do.

In the Tarot, Spheres 1, 2 and 3 are the Aces,
Twos and Threes; and Paths 11, 12 and 13 are Keys
1, 2 and 3, the Magician, High Priestess and
Empress.

Meditate on these things and you'll learn far
more about these spheres and paths and the Tarot.
You will begin to make them personal. They will
become a part of your life. And, you will become
a part of them.

This is how you make the Tarot sing to your
heart.

Namaste,
John

Gentlepeople,

The Universal Laws 1, 2, 3, 11, 12, and 13 are
called the Mental Laws or the Laws Concerning the
Mind. This is because we can make a mental
decision to 1) be aware, 2) intend anything, 3)
believe, 11) pay attention, 12) remember and 13)
imagine anything. More than that, all of these
things are done in our mind and only our mind.

We see, hear, taste, smell and touch many things
everyday. We choose to become aware of some and
ignore others. We do not pay attention to the
things we ignore. We do not remember or imagine
anything about the things we ignore. We have no
intentions or beliefs about the things we ignore
because we were not and are not aware of them.
It's all in our mind...or not.

The Universal Laws Concerning the Mind are
expressed in the Seven Worlds of the Creation as
the World of Air. The Tarot cards assigned to
these six laws express the Element of Air and
only Air. These cards express the Seventh Heaven
and the Seventh Hell.

That's because the seventh heaven and hell are
a construct of our own minds. Despite what many
say, we create our own heavens and hells. The
seventh heaven may be the best, but the seventh
hell is the worst because we delude ourselves
into believing we deserve eternal damnation. We
don't ever deserve that! Unfortunately, we get
what we believe we will receive. Fortunately,
we also receive what we believe!

We are children of the Divine and we deserve
all good things because that's who we are. If
we believe that, we receive all good things.
It's all in our Mind.

UNIVERSAL LAW FOURTEEN

The fourteenth Universal Law is the Law of
Reason. This law is represented by the Emperor
who is the great thinker, the one who thinks
things through and reasons everything out. It
would seem the Emperor and Law Fourteen should be
included in the group of laws assigned to the
World of Air. For, the World of Air is the World
of Thoughts and Ideas.

But this is not the case because the Emperor also
reflects upon the thoughts and ideas that arise
within. Reflecting on our own thoughts and ideas
is the birthing of our emotions. The more we
think about something, the more we start to feel
something stirring within ourselves. This inner
stirring is the birthing of our own emotions.

On the Tree of Life, Path Fourteen crosses the
Abyss from sphere 2 to sphere 4 on the right-hand
side of the Tree as we look at it. On our body,
this path is from our left brain to our left arm.
(Our neck and mouth are the Abyss. At least, they
are our own personal Abyss.) This is the path
from the thinking part of our mind to our arm of
loving kindness and compassion.

Just for the record, the first sphere is
half-above and half-within the top of our head,
the second is our left brain and the third our
right brain. Path Eleven goes from the top of our
head to our left brain. Path Twelve goes from the
top of our head to our right brain. Path Thirteen
connects our right and left brain.

As we think about and reflect upon our own
thoughts and ideas we start to have feelings
about these thoughts and ideas. Thoughts and
ideas are the World of Air. Feelings and emotions
are the World of Water. We are in transition
between the Worlds of Air and Water. This is
called the World of Spirit Above and it
represents the creation of the World of Water
being born within the World of Air. It is also
called the World of Reflection, the World of the
Dark Abyss and the World of Alchemy among others.

The World of the Dark Abyss is the world where
our thoughts and ideas give birth to our
emotions. The World of Alchemy alludes to the
Third Alchemical Marriage as we make our emotions
one with our own thoughts and ideas. This
suggests that once we give birth to our emotions,
they become children that separate themselves
from our own thoughts and ideas. This turns out
to be the case as we shall learn.

In any event all of these things are a part of
Path Fourteen and the Emperor.

Namaste,
John

Gentlepeople,

Thanks for all your notes of appreciation. I was
planning to finish the next few paths and
announce a course where you could complete your
studies on this topic for a reasonable fee. I'm
still going to write the course, but I've decided
to complete all 32 laws in this newsletter.

Universal Law Four

The Fourteenth Path (Emperor) coming from our
Sphere of Intentions leads to the Sphere of
Mercy. That's the white side of this sphere. The
dark side is cruelty. The Sphere of Mercy is also
the Sphere of of Cruelty and everything in
between.

The Sphere of Mercy - Cruelty is the fourth
sphere on the Tree of Life and the fourth path.
It is also Universal Law Four. This law basically
states that your behavior is determined by what
you think (Key IV) about your own intentions (the
Twos). The result of your behavior is Merciful or
Cruel or any and everything in between those two
extremes.

This sphere is also the Sphere of Compassion -
Vindictiveness, Loving Kindness - Retribution,
and Charity - Greed. It is also the Sphere of
Acceptance or Non-acceptance, Forgiveness or
Non-forgiveness and Loving or Non-loving. It is
the first sphere of emotional consequences based
on our thoughts and thinking.

Universal Law One says we're either aware or
unaware and there's nothing in between. Universal
Law Two says we either have intentions or we
don't. There's nothing in between. Universal Law
Three says we either believe or we don't and
there's nothing in between.

But when we come to Universal Law Four there's a
whole range of an unlimited number of emotions
between greed and charity, or retribution and
kindness, or vindictiveness and charity or
cruelty and mercy. This unlimited range of
emotions is the result of what we think about our
own intentions. We either think merciful,
compassionate, charitable, kind and loving
thoughts about our intentions or we think cruel,
greedy, vindictive, charitable and everything in
between thoughts about our intentions.

These thoughts will manifest as emotions in Law
Four, Sphere Four, and eventually manifest as
behaviors based on these emotions. This is shown
by the Fours in the Tarot Deck. The Fours
represent the Earth, Fire, Water and Air of our
emotions concerning our intentions.

Sounds deep, but what this really means is that
our thoughts about our intentions create our
emotions concerning acceptance, forgiveness and
love. We literally think ourselves into
accepting, forgiving or loving ourselves and
everybody else.

Law Four says that what we think creates our
emotions. The fours in our Tarot deck represent
this truth.

Namaste,
John

Gentlepeople,

I'm trying to find a set of colored B.O.T.A.
major arcana that can be downloaded from the
Internet. Recently the Christian Tarot website
was hijacked by a pornography group and was
taken down. They had a colored version of the
B.O.T.A. Major Arcana cards on their site. We
had a link to those cards. Several people have
asked where they can download a colored set
of that deck online now. I don't know. Any
help will be appreciated.

UNIVERSAL LAW FIFTEEN

In the Tarot, this law is personified by the
Hierophant, Key V. This is the Law of Intuition.

According to the ancient teachings of the
Kaballah Intuition is our direct line of
communication with our own Highest Self, our
Super Ego. The Hermetic Order of the Golden
Dawn refers to this as our Holy Guardian
Angel. The Judeo-Christian lineage calls it
our Spirit, our own Higher Mind. By
whatever name, our Spirit is our Perfect Self,
that part of us that knows everything and has
complete power to change anything in our
lives. Our spirit is pure mind unadulterated
by desires or emotions.

Path 15, like Path 14 crosses the Great Abyss
that connects the World of Air with the World
of Water. The Great Abyss is the Veil of
Reflection, sometimes called the Pool, Ocean or
Lake of Reflection. It is in the Great Abyss
we think about our thoughts and ideas and
reflect upon them(Path 14)to create a Sphere
of Compassion (Path 4) in the World of Water.

It is in the Great Abyss we are able to connect
with our own Highest Self. That connection is
made through the Path of Intuition, Path 15,
the Path of the Hierophant. It is on this path we
receive intuitive insights, which are nothing
more than suggestions from our very own
Spirit -- our own Super Ego or Highest Self. Just
as we can choose to reason things out or not on
Path 14, so we can choose to believe or not our
intuitive insights,thoughts and ideas on Path 15.

We all receive intuitive insights. The more we
acknowledge these insights, the more insights we
receive. Our Highest Self is always willing to
guide us, but whether we accept that guidance
or not is our decision. True, our Highest Self
wants the very best for us, but it is not
emotionally attached to our decisions. Our
Highest Self accepts, forgives and loves us no
matter what. So does the Divine.

Law 15 basically says that if you want to develop
your intuition all you need to do is acknowledge
your intuitive insights whether you believe them
or not, and whether act on them or not. All you
have to do is acknowledge your intuitive insights
to develop your intuition.

UNIVERSAL LAW SIXTEEN

In the Tarot, this law is personified by Key VI
the Lovers. The man on your right is a symbol for
Key IV and the woman your left is a symbol for
Key V. In most esoteric decks the woman is
looking up at our own Holy Guardian Angel, our
Super Ego, Highest Self or Spirit. This
symbolizes Path 15, the Path of Intuition. The
man is not looking up to Spirit even though
Spirit looks down on both of them. This
symbolizes Path 14, the Path of Reason. The path
connecting the man and the woman is Path 16 the
Path of the Lovers.

Spiritual Alchemy teaches us that when we unite
our reasoning mind with our intuitive mind, we
become one. When our masculine and feminine sides
join together we become super human. This is the
third Alchemical Marriage when our Spirit and
Soul become one.

Path sixteen is called the Path of Conscience.
Universal Law Sixteen says we have the right to
intuitively or rationally choose to use our
compassion and power to benefit everything in the
creation or not. This is our conscience. We make
the decisions and our lives are governed
accordingly.

We crossed the Great Abyss, the Veil of
Reflection, on Paths 14 and 15. We are now in the
world of Water so Path Sixteen is controlled by
our emotions. The Sphere of Compassion (Law 4)is
in the World of Water. Our reflections on our own
thoughts and ideas created emotions and these
emotions are expressed as some form of
acceptance, forgiveness and love or
non-acceptance, non-forgiveness and non-love or
anything between these two polarities.

UNIVERSAL LAW FIVE

The Sphere of Power (Law 5) is in the World of
Water. Our acceptance or declining of our
intuitive insights and our acknowledgment of them
creates all of the emotions that empower us.
These are emotions of happiness, peace and calm,
and joy and freedom. The dark side of these same
emotions is sorrow or depression, anger or rage
and anxiety. We create peace or anger, joy or
anxiety and happiness or sorrow in ourselves by
the manner in which we receive or reject our
intuitive insights.

Universal Law Five says we have the power to
change ourselves and ourselves. How we change
ourselves and our lives is controlled pretty much
by the manner in which we handle our intuitive
insights and our conscience. When we reject our
intuitive insights or do things we know to be
harmful to others, we dis-empower ourselves. When
we accept our intuitive insights and do things we
know are correct, we empower not only ourselves
but some other part of the creation.

In the Tarot the Law of Power is expressed by the
fives. These cards tell us we have the power to
remain in our present circumstances or to change
ourselves and our circumstances. We can continue
to live in the emotional chaos we created on
Paths 14, 15 and 16 or we can change. We make
that change by reasoning things our for the
benefit of all and not just ourselves, by
acknowledging and accepting our intuitive
insights, and by letting our conscience be our
guide.

Universal Law Five is the Law of Change.
Everything is moving in the creation, everything
changing all the time. We don't see the mountains
erode away before our eyes, but they do. There
are lots of things changing in our lives all the
time that we don't see. We can either take
control of those things or we can allow the chaos
of the Universe to control them. Universal Law
Five gives you the choice to empower yourself and
others or not.

If you choose to empower yourself and others
intuitively or through accepting, forgiving and
loving more and more, your personal Sphere of
Power generates happiness, joy and peace. If not,
you generate anger, fear and sorrow. You make
that choice on Path 16, the Path of the Lovers,
the Path of Conscience based on your Sphere of
Compassion (Path 4) created by your own thoughts
and ideas (Path 14). You also make that choice on
Path 15, the Path of Intuition and the Path of
the Hierophant.

Your Sphere of Power, Path Five, and your Sphere
of Mercy, Path Four, are your spheres of
emotional influence in the world. They are
created by and dependent upon your Paths of
Reason (14), Intuition (15) and Conscience (16).
These in turn are dependent upon your Awareness
(Path and Sphere 1), Intentions (Path and Sphere
2), Beliefs (Path and Sphere 3), Attentiveness
(Path 11) Memory (Path 12) and Imagination (Path
13). Everything in the World of Water depends
upon all of these paths and spheres. What goes
before affects what follows.

Namaste,
John

Gentlepeople,

Thank you for sending me the links to the
colorized version of th BOTA Tarot. I really
appreciate all the things you do for me. Thanks.

UNIVERSAL LAWS 17

Universal Law 17 is a path that leads from
Awareness to our Center, Law 18 is a path that
leads from our Intentions to our Center, and Law
19 is a path that leads from our Beliefs to our
Center. Everything in our World of Air generates
a path that leads to our Center.

Law One indicates we think and do nothing until
we become aware of it. We may be walking around
this world, but if we are not aware, we are
asleep while we walk. Once we become Aware we
have the option to follow Path 11, the Path of
Paying Attention to our Awareness to Path Two.
Path Two is where we create Intentions based on
our awareness and our observations.

We also have the option to follow Path 12, the
Path of Imagining, to Path Three. That's where we
create our Beliefs and Belief Systems based on
our awareness. memory and observations. Memory is
Path 13 between Paths Two and Three.

We also have the option to follow Path 17, the
Path of Receiving, to our Center. The Law of
Receiving tells us we can receive Divine
Influence anytime we want. It's our choice. The
Divine is always there. We either decide to
receive Divine Influence or not. We are the
Chariot and we are the receivers but we are also
the decision makers.

Path 17 is the Path of the Chariot. The
Charioteer is our very own ego and body is the
chariot. The ego controls our body unless and
until we take control. We take control when we
open ourselves to the Divine and allow the Divine
Will to flow through us. Then we do that we came
here to do.

Law Two says we create our own intentions to do
anything based on our awareness and observations.
In this place we have the option of following
Path 13, the Path of Remembering, to Path Three,
our Beliefs. We also have the option to follow
Path 14, the Path of Reason, to Path Four, the
Path of Compassion. And, finally, we have the
option of following Path 18 to our Center.

Universal Law 18 says we have the strength to
do and endure anything at all. No matter what.
Path 18 is our Path of Inner Strength. Our
Compassion is the parent of our inner strength to
endure all we can endure and do all we can do as
we follow Path 18. This is the path of the
Strength card and it is a symbol of our inner
strength. The lion within us is our ego and we
have the inner strength to control our baser
instincts through compassion.

Path Three is the place of our Beliefs and Belief
Systems. When we go out from this place we can
follow the Path of Inspiration to Path Five, our
place of Power. We can also follow Path 19.

Law 19 says we are all students and teachers
whether we want to be or not. This is Path 19,
the Path of Learning and Mentoring. We learn by
following the path of others whom we respect. We
do what they did and we learn. If they were kind
and loving people, we learn how to be loving and
kind. If they were not, we learn what they teach
anyway. Then other people learn from us whether
we know it or not. We are all students and we
learn all the time. We are all mentors and others
do what we do all the time. This is the Path of
the Hermit, the path where others follow our
light just as we follow the light of others.

Laws 20 and 21 also lead to our Center and we'll
learn about them next time.

Namaste,
John

Gentlepeople,

By now you've probably figured out the first ten
Universal Laws are attributed to the ten ranks of
pip cards in the Tarot deck. And, the Tarot
trumps are assigned to the twenty-one paths for
Universal Laws eleven through thirty-two.

What you may not know is these are the same
thirty-two paths of Esoteric Masonry, the Magical
Golden Dawn and Spiritual Alchemy. Additionally
these are the thirty-two paths of the Tree of
Life.

The Tree of Life is a glyph of ten sphere and
twenty-two connecting paths. The spheres are
paths 1-10 and the other paths are numbered
11-32. The spheres are the pip cards 1-10 and the
other paths are the Tarot trumps.

UNIVERSAL LAWS 20, 21 AND 6

These laws apply to the X and XI trump cards and
the pip sixes. Law 10 is the Golden Rule: "What
you do to others, happens to you." We live in a
world where you get hurt when you hurt others;
and you get helped when you help others. Whatever
you do for good comes back to you; and whatever
you do to harm others causes you harm. You live
your life by your own choices for the benefit or
harm of others.

Law 11 says everything in life is as it should
be, everything happens for the best of all
concerned. It doesn't always seem that way, but
according to the Divine plan whatever happens is
meant to happen just the way it happened. We
either learn and spiritually advance or we don't.
But, whatever we do, whatever happened was for
the best. That's why some people call this the
Law of Justice.

Universal Law 6 is the Law of Harmony. It is also
the Law of Disharmony. Law 10 is attributed to
the path that leads from Sphere 4 to Sphere 6.
This means our compassion yields harmony or
disharmony based on the Golden Rule. Law 11 is
attributed to the path than leads from Sphere 5
to Sphere 6. This means our power yields harmony
or disharmony based on the Universal Law of
Justice.

Whether we have harmony or disharmony in our
lives depends upon how we use our Awareness,
Intentions, Beliefs, Compassion. The Laws of
Inner Strength (18), Being an Example for Others
(19), Universal Retribution (20), and Justice
(21)will modify the Sphere of Harmony based on
the first five Universal Laws described above.

By our own thoughts and actions we choose whether
we have a happy, balanced and harmonious life or
not. If we become aware (Law 1) of inharmonious
parts of our own life, we need to pay attention
(Law 11) and create new intentions (Law 2). Then
we need to rely on past experiences (Law 12) and
our own imagination (Law 13 to form new beliefs
(Law 3) about who and what we really are. If we
do this, we're half-way there to changing that
part of our lives into something peaceful and
harmonious.

The rest of the work we need to do is use our
brains (Law 14) to become more accepting,
forgiving and loving of ourselves and others (Law
4). Then use our intuition (Law 15) and
conscience (Law 16)to become more peaceful,happy
and free (Law 5). Finally we follow the paths of
Divine Communion (Law 17), Inner Strength (Law
18) Mentoring (Law 19), Karma (Law 20) and
Justice (Law 21) to become more harmonious with
life.

We'll continue this discussion next week before
we move on to our next topic of interest.

Namaste,
John

Gentlepeople,

I misspoke last week when I mentioned 21 paths.
That's my error. It should have been 22 paths.
Oops. Thanks for bringing this to my attention -
numerous times. <g> Seriously though, thanks!

THE WORLD OF WATER

Earlier we learned the World of Air is composed
of three spheres and three paths: 1. awareness,
2. intentions, 3. beliefs, 11, paying attention
now, 12. remembering the past and 13. imagining
the future. This is the World of the Mind, the
World of Air, the world of thinking about the
present, past and future.

The World of Water is said to be the reflection
of the World of Air. We have thoughts and we
reflect on those thoughts. Reflecting on our
thoughts generates feelings about those thoughts.
Thoughts give birth to emotions. The World of Air
gives birth to the World of Water.

This birth occurs in the Great Abyss, the Void,
the Veil of Reflection between the World of Air
and the World of Water. This veil is filled with
five paths: 14. reasoning, 15. intuiting, 17.
receiving, 18. inner strength and 19 teaching and
learning. These are the Tarot cards numbered IV,
V, VII, VIII and IX. These are the cards of
reflection.

When I reason things out (IV) with my conscious
mind, I am reflecting. When I intuit (V)
anything, my subconscious mind is reflecting.
When I open myself up to receive (VII) Divine
inspiration, I am reflecting. When I find the
inner strength (VIII)to do anything, I am
reflecting. When I learn from great masters and
light the way for others (IX), I am reflecting. I
am reflecting anytime my thoughts generate
feelings.

The feelings I generate are the emotions of love,
hate, compassion, cruelty, mercy, antipathy and
myriad variations of these (4).  The feelings I
generate are the emotions of anger, peace,
happiness, joy, sorrow, depression, anxiety,
freedom and myriad variations of these. (5).
These feelings I balance and harmonize or not
(6).

These feelings are generated by my thoughts about
the Law of Return (Law 20, Key X and Path 20),
the Law of Correctness (Law 21, Key XI and Path
21), and the Law of Conscience (Law 16, Key VI
and Path 16).

The Law of Conscience reminds us that whatever we
do, we know the difference between good and evil,
between benefit and harm. The Law of Correctness
teaches us that everything is exactly as it
should be, everything is correct and nothing is
wrong. It just is. The Law of Return is the
Golden Rule teaching us that we receive what we
give away. The energy is always moving and
whatever we do with Divine energy is what happens
to us.

Universal Law 22, represented by Key XII, says
that if we feel our world is not right, then we
need to change our thinking. Our world is not
right with us because our thinking needs to
change. When we think the wrong things we
manifest the wrong things in our life. Our
thoughts attract to us exactly what we think
we're going to get.

Universal Law 23, represented by Key XIII, says
we must change our behavior to manifest the
things we want. If we're manifesting the wrong
things in our life, we need to change our
behaviors. If what we're doing is bring things to
us we don't want, then we need to change our
behavior, we need to do something else.

These two laws, Laws 22 and 23 empty into the
container we call Desire (sphere 7 on the Tree of
Life). Changing our thinking and/or changing our
behavior has a direct effect on what we want out
of life. What we want out of life is our desires.
Our desires are our wants, needs, cravings,
addictions, passions and goals.

Universal Law 7, represented by the Tarot sevens,
says what we desire in life is what we get. We
may think we desire something but our body, mind,
ego, subconscious mind, cravings and addictions
desire something else. Our wrong thinking and
wrong behavior dictate what we will get unless we
change our thinking and/or behavior.

The sevens in the Tarot express our desires,
wants, needs, cravings, passions and addictions.
These are the things we're going to do based on
our current thinking and behaving. This is both a
blessing that confirms our goals or a warning
that our goals are inappropriate.

Namaste,
John

Gentlepeople,

I know several hundred of you are reading these
laws because you wrote me to advise me I screwed
up the numbering of the paths in my last post.

You are correct. The Tarot Keys for these laws
were 10 and 12 and I mis-numbered those paths
with those numbers. The correct numbers for these
Laws and Paths were Path and Law 20 for Key X and
Path and Law 22 for Key XII. I apologize for the
confusion.

Universal Law 24 is the Law of Verification.
We've found our inner strength (Law 18) and
followed the path of a master (Law 19). We
learned the Law of Return (Law 20) and the Law of
Justice (Law 21). We changed our thinking (Law
22) and our behavior (Law 23). Now we verify that
this was the right thing to do. We stop and
evaluate our spiritual progress. That's what Key
XIV is all about.

Universal Law 25 is the Law of Ignorance. Here
all along we thought we knew a lot more than we
really know. We've moved onto our spiritual path
and we learned things were not what we thought
they were. We've changed and we understand just
how much we don't know. We now understand our own
ignorance. That's what Key XV reminds us about
ourselves.

Universal Law 26 is the Law of Awakening. As soon
as we admit our own ignorance to ourselves, we
start to awaken to the true reality of life. This
is not a slow awakening. It's abrupt and
instantaneous. In an instant we understand we
really don't know everything and we really are a
Child of the Divine. The world we knew is
destroyed. We walk toward a new world. This is
the message of Key XVI.

Universal Law 8 is the Law of Mind. It says we
can do anything we think we can do. Unless we
think we can, we can't. When we think we can, we
can. Our mind is really very simple: We have a
spirit mind, a soul mind and an ego mind. Our
spirit mind is called our unconscious or super
conscious mind. Our soul mind is called our
subconscious mind. Our ego mind is just that -
our ego mind.

When we decide to do something on the super
conscious (spirit), subconscious (soul) and
conscious (ego) level of our being we make it
happen. We need our three minds working together
to make things happen in our lives. If we let our
ego rule, we sabotage ourselves and our true
intentions. If we follow the suggestion in Key
VIII and take control of our ego (the lion) with
our inner strength, we allow the Divine within us
to run our lives.

The eights in the Tarot deck convey this message
to us according to the element of the individual
card. We verify the truth for ourselves (Key
XIV), truly understand our own ignorance (Key
XV), awaken to the true reality (Key VI) and
enter our Mind (the four eights in the Tarot
deck). Our task now becomes finding a way to
bring the Divine down into our every day life.

Namaste,
John





_______________________________________________
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Gentlepeople,

Universal Law 27 is the Law of Introspection.

This law says that all the answers to every
question we have are within ourselves. We can
search outside ourselves all we want, but we'll
never find the answers for our lives there.
That's because all our answers are within us.

We all know people who go from reader to reader,
psychic to psychic looking for answers. TheyG
already have all the answers they ever need.
Those answers are within themselves. They just
don't believe it. They believe somebody else has
all the answers to all of their problems.

That just isn't true. The truth according to
Universal Law 27 is they just need to find their
own answers inside themselves.

The best way to find these answers inside
ourselves is through meditation. Meditation is
communion with the Divine. When we become
comfortable, breathe deeply and relax we open a
channel to our own intuitive mind. Most of us do
that easily or we wouldn't be reading Tarot
cards. That's the first step to meditation.

The second step after we become comfortable,
breathe deeply and relax is to occupy the ego
mind with something. This can me an affirmation
or a mantra. You can also occupy the ego mind by
any combination of watching, hearing and feeling
your breath, heart beat, ringing in your ears or
anything.

Another name for Law 27 is the Law of Meditation.
Meditation is the shortest route to direct
communion with the Divine. Some other methods
such as meditative prayer, contemplation,
contemplative prayer, spiritual alchemy and
prayer may take longer but they will work.

Tarot by Key XVII, the Star of Hope, exemplifies
our inner star, our direct link to the Divine.
This card is an expression of Spiritual Law 27.

We remember the World of Water is three spheres
(Laws 4, 5 and 6) and three paths (Laws 16, 20
and 21).  Paths 22, 23, 24, 25 and 27 lead
downward on the Tree of Life from the World of
Water. These spiritual laws, exemplified by Tarot
Keys 12, 13, 14, 15, and 17 connect the World of
Water with the World of Fire below.

This connection between Water and Fire is called
the Veil of Illusion. This veil is the transition
between Water and Fire. It's the transition from
our feelings to our desires. It's an extension of
our feelings created by our mind.

Everything starts with a thought in the World of
Air. When we reflect on a thought and mull it
over and over in the Veil of Reflection, it
becomes an emotion in the World of Water. We feel
something as a result of a thought we reflect
upon. When we decide to do something about our
emotion we create a desire in the World of Fire.
Deciding to do something about an emotion is the
function of the Veil of Illusion.

The Veil of Illusion is where we change out
thinking (Key 12, change our behavior (Key 13),
verify these changes are acceptable to us (Key
14) and veil everything in ignorance (Key 15) as
we descend the Tree of Life into manifestation.
The final step in our descent from the World of
Water into the World of Fire is on Path 27
illustrated by the Law of Introspection (Key 17).

On the path to being born as a child we change
our thinking (Key 12) from knowing everything to
thinking about life in the flesh. We change our
behavior (Key 13) from being present in the
Eternal Now to being present in the ever-changing
chaos of manifestation.  We verify (Key 14) we
really want to be born in the flesh for our own
spiritual growth. Then we accept the reality we
cannot remember who and what we truly are. We
become ignorant (Key 15) of our own true identity
as a Child of the Divine.

Then we take the final step. We follow the Path
of Introspection (Key 17) and we prepare to enter
the World of Fire. We cross the Veil of Illusion
and we enter the illusion of manifestation.

What this really means is that quantum physics is
right. Matter is nothing more than spinning
energy. Energy is nothing more than a thought.
What we think of as matter is nothing more than
energy spinning so fast you can't penetrate it
with more spinning energy. Energy is nothing more
that a thought in the mind of the Creator. A
thought that goes nowhere is potential energy.
When a thought moves it is kinetic energy.

We pass the Veil of Illusion and we enter the
illusion of matter. It's as though we become the
movie we're watching. We become a part of the
illusion. We become the illusion created by our
own mind. We are the illusion.

Universal Law Nine says our desires are the
"Foundation of the World." Sphere Nine is the
astral world upon which the physical world is
built. It is the matrix for the creation. It is
the illusion upon which the physical reality
exists. It is the building blocks for
manifestation.

Universal Law Nine and sphere nine are
represented by the nines of the Tarot Deck. Each
nine represents an Elemental part of the whole.
Each nine is our connection to the Veil of
Illusion and all the planes beyond.

Next week we'll learn more about the World of
Fire.

Namaste,
John

_______________________________________________
No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding.
Make My Way  your home on the Web - http://www.myway.com

Gentlepeople,

I don't normally participate in chain letters. Most of them are false and inane.
But, http://memoriter.net/flash/test.html is an exception. This little test is
quite remarkable and I recommend it to you. At the same time, I caution you to
take this test step by step. If you cheat and look ahead, you'll be disappointed
in yourself. (I won't care. <g>)

The test takes about five minutes and I think you'll be quite amazed by the
results.

SUMMARY OF THE UNIVERSAL LAWS WE'VE DISCUSSED:

We entered the World of Mind (Air) from we know not where. We paid attention
(present), remembered (past) and imagined (future) the possibilities of our
life.

We crossed the Veil of Reflection by thinking about our own thoughts and entered
the World of Emotions (Water). Our thoughts generated feelings and we became
emotional beings.

We crossed the Veil of Illusion by generating desires out of our feelings.We now
enter the World of Fire, the world of our desires, needs, wants, passions,
cravings and addictions. This world of three paths and three spheres on the Tree
of Life is the foundation upon which we build our own manifested reality.

THE WORLD OF FIRE

Sphere 7 (Law of Desire), Sphere 8 (Law of Mind) and Sphere 9 (Law of Emotional
Expression) are the three spheres in the World of Fire. Our desires and our
thoughts about our desires are balanced by our emotional expression of who we
are.

Universal Law 26 connects our desire (Sphere 7) and mind centers (Sphere 8). It
is the Law of Awakening. As we descend the Tree of Life we become awakened to
the harsh reality of manifestation.  As we ascend the Tree of Life we become
awakened to the true reality of the Worlds above us.

Universal Law 28 connects our desire expression center (Sphere 7) to our
emotional expression center (Sphere 9). This is the Law of Misconception. As we
descend the Tree of Life we misconceive the reality that we are entering. We
misunderstand the physical reality and we are confused. As we ascend the Tree of
Life our confusion is erased and we begin to understand our true being.

Universal Law 29 connects our mind expression center (Sphere 8) and our
emotional expression center (Sphere 9). This law states that we leave behind all
self-awareness as we descend the Tree. We forget everything about who and what
we truly are. As we ascend the Tree of Life we gain back an awareness of our
true essence.

These three paths and three spheres are our own personal World of Fire. This is
our world where we express our own individual mind, feelings and desires as we
understand them. Having crossed the Veil of Illusion, we do not know these
things are illusions. We believe with all our heart, mind an soul they are real.
And we act accordingly.

The World of Fire is the World of Illusion into which we escape when we leave
the Earth plane. This is the Astral World we travel in sleep and between lives.
This is our personal retreat from the chaos of the world. It is our resting
place where we prepare to incarnate once again. Or, this is our resting place as
we shed the chaos of life and move up the Tree of Life to our true home.

Namaste,
John

_______________________________________________
No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding.
Make My Way  your home on the Web - http://www.myway.com

Gentlepeople,

Sorry about the formatting earlier. Here's the same newsletter formatted for
easy reading:

I don't normally participate in chain letters.
Most of them are false and inane. But,
http://memoriter.net/flash/test.html is an
exception. This little test is quite remarkable
and I recommend it to you. At the same time, I
caution you to take this test step by step. If
you cheat and look ahead, you'll be disappointed
in yourself. (I won't care. <g>)

The test takes about five minutes and I think
you'll be quite amazed by the results.

SUMMARY OF THE UNIVERSAL LAWS WE'VE DISCUSSED:

We entered the World of Mind (Air) from we know
not where. We paid attention (present),
remembered (past) and imagined (future) the
possibilities of our life.

We crossed the Veil of Reflection by thinking
about our own thoughts and entered the World of
Emotions (Water). Our thoughts generated feelings
and we became emotional beings.

We crossed the Veil of Illusion by generating
desires out of our feelings.We now enter the
World of Fire, the world of our desires, needs,
wants, passions, cravings and addictions. This
world of three paths and three spheres on the
Tree of Life is the foundation upon which we
build our own manifested reality.

THE WORLD OF FIRE

Sphere 7 (Law of Desire), Sphere 8 (Law of Mind)
and Sphere 9 (Law of Emotional Expression) are
the three spheres in the World of Fire. Our
desires and our thoughts about our desires are
balanced by our emotional expression of who we
are.

Universal Law 26 connects our desire (Sphere 7)
and mind centers (Sphere 8). It is the Law of
Awakening. As we descend the Tree of Life we
become awakened to the harsh reality of
manifestation. As we ascend the Tree of Life we
become awakened to the true reality of the Worlds
above us.

Universal Law 28 connects our desire expression
center (Sphere 7) to our emotional expression
center (Sphere 9). This is the Law of
Misconception. As we descend the Tree of Life we
misconceive the reality that we are entering. We
misunderstand the physical reality and we are
confused. As we ascend the Tree of Life our
confusion is erased and we begin to understand
our true being.

Universal Law 29 connects our mind expression
center (Sphere 8) and our emotional expression
center (Sphere 9). This law states that we leave
behind all self-awareness as we descend the Tree.
We forget everything about who and what we truly
are. As we ascend the Tree of Life we gain back
an awareness of our true essence.

These three paths and three spheres are our own
personal World of Fire. This is our world where
we express our own individual mind, feelings and
desires as we understand them. Having crossed the
Veil of Illusion, we do not know these things are
illusions. We believe with all our heart, mind an
soul they are real. And we act accordingly.

The World of Fire is the World of Illusion into
which we escape when we leave the Earth plane.
This is the Astral World we travel in sleep and
between lives. This is our personal retreat from
the chaos of the world. It is our resting place
where we prepare to incarnate once again. Or,
this is our resting place as we shed the chaos of
life and move up the Tree of Life to our true
home.

Namaste,
John


_______________________________________________
No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding.
Make My Way  your home on the Web - http://www.myway.com

Gentlepeople,

Universal Law 30, characterized by Key 20, is the
Path of Self Realization. It is also the Path of
Forgetting Who and What We Truly Are.

When we come into this world, we travel this path
from the World of Fire into the World of Earth.
We travel from our Desire Center  to Physical
Manifestation. As we travel down this path we
forget who and what we really are. We forget our
True Self. We forget all the plans and desires we
had for this incarnation. When we wake up in the
manifested physical reality we think we are our
ego and we don't remember our purpose in coming
here.

When we do our spiritual work we eventually
travel up this path and we learn about our True
Self. We learn who and what we truly are. We
learn why we came here and what we intended to do
while we were here. We learn we are not our ego
and we know who and what we truly are.

If we never travel this path, we leave this
reality thinking our ego is who and what we
really and truly are. When we reincarnate we drag
that ego along with us. We do this until we
finally do our spiritual work. Some of us can
hang on to that old ego for a very long time.
Being an "old soul" may be an indication we're
stuck with an "old ego." I wonder...

Universal Law 31, characterized by Key 21, is the
Path of Soul Realization. This is the second path
of Forgetting Who and What We Really and Truly
Are.

When we come into this world, we travel this path
from the World of Fire into the World of Earth.
We travel from our Mind Center into Physical
Manifestation. As we travel down this path we
forget who and what we really are. We forget
about our Higher Self. We forget all the things
we wanted to learn during this incarnation. When
we wake up in the manifested physical reality we
think we are our ego and we don't remember what
we came here to learn.

When we do our spiritual work we eventually
travel up this path and we learn about our Higher
Self. We learn who and what we truly are. We
learn what we intended to learn while we were
here. We learn we are not our ego and we know who
and what we truly are.

If we never travel this path, we leave this
reality thinking our ego is who and what we
really and truly are. We don't remember our
Higher Self. (My comments for Path 30 also
apply.)

Universal Law 32, characterized by the Fool, is
the Path of Spiritual Realization. It is the
third Path of Forgetting Who and What We Truly
Are.

When we come into this world, we travel this path
from the World of Fire into the World of Earth.
We travel from our Foundation to Physical
Manifestation. As we travel down this path we
forget who and what we really are. We forget our
Soul. We forget all the people we intend to help
during this incarnation. When we wake up in the
manifested physical reality we think we are our
ego and we don't remember the people we were
going to accept, forgive and love.

When we do our spiritual work we eventually
travel up this path and we learn about our Soul.
We learn who and what we truly are. We learn why
we came here and who we intended to help while we
were here. We learn we are not our ego and we
know who and what we truly are.

If we never travel this path, we leave this
reality thinking our ego is who and what we
really and truly are. We don't remember our Soul.
(My comments for Path 30 also apply.)

These three paths are called the Paths of
Forgetfulness as we move down the Tree of Life
into the Physical Manifestation. They are also
known as the Paths of Realization for those doing
their spiritual work and learning who and what
they truly are.

Which path we travel is our decision. We can
forget more and more or we can do our spiritual
work.

Peace,
John






_______________________________________________
No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding.
Make My Way  your home on the Web - http://www.myway.com

Gentlepeople,

We come now to the end of this series of
discussions on the Universal Laws. For the next
few weeks we're going to create a very powerful
system for helping people solve their problems
using this basic information. We're going to do
this because people come to a tarot reader
looking for answers. Often what they get is an
opinion of how the tarot reader would solve their
problem. What they don't get is a reading that
empowers them to solve their own problems.

When we give people our opinion of how they
should solve their problems, we don't empower
them to make their own decisions about their own
life. They become dependent upon us and other
people to tell them what to do. But the sad part
is any decisions we make about how other people
should live their lives usually doesn't work for
them.

When we empower people to make their own
decisions about their lives, the usually resolve
their issues and solve their own problems. They
become self-determining people and the decisions
they make for themselves usually work for them.

Anyway, that's what we're going to explore
starting next week.

UNIVERSAL LAW TEN

Universal Law Ten says what we manifest in life
is a perfect representation of who we are. We are
the sum total of all our previous thoughts,
actions and beliefs.

We are today the sum total of everything we have
always been. And unless we make some changes we
will always be the same person we are right now.
We may look older and we may slow down a little
but we will always be the same person we are now
unless we change something. What we are now is a
logical and compelling result of everything we
have been, ever thought, ever done and ever
believed. Tomorrow we will be exactly the same
unless we change our behavior, thinking or
beliefs, unless we change what we do, think and
believe.

Universal Law Ten is the end result and a new
beginning. Every day we complete the job of being
who and what we are. Every day we either stay the
same or we change. We change our actions,
thoughts or what we believe or we don't change
anything. We grow by changing. We stagnate and
decline by remaining the same.

Whatever we manifest in our lives is the sum
total of everything we are, do, think or believe.
That's the message of Universal Law Ten. The Ten
of Swords, Wands, Cups or Pentacles tells us
where we are ending and starting something in our
life. This may be our way of thinking (swords),
behaving (wands), feeling or believing (cups) or
being (pentacles). This is our new starting point
and what we do with it is entirely up to us.

THE WORLD OF EARTH

The manifested world in which we live is the
World of Earth, It is a combination of our
thoughts and beliefs (World of Air), our emotions
and relationships (World of Water) and our
desires, wants, needs and passions (World of
Fire). When we manifest these things, what we
have is our World of Earth.

This is the world of things. We manifest things
with our personal Air, Water and Fire. We
manifest our health, body, possessions and other
things by our thoughts and beliefs (Air),
emotional feelings (Water) and our passions and
desires (Fire). We cannot manifest anything in
any other manner.

The World of Earth is also the manifested world
of every other being. We live in their world and
they live in ours. The World of Earth is also
the World of the Divine. We live in the world
created by the Divine and the Divine resides in
us and whatever world we create for ourselves.

VEIL OF IGNORANCE

The transition between the World of Fire and the
World of Earth is called the Veil of Ignorance.
As we come down the Tree of Life we travel three
paths, Paths 30, 31 and 32, that cross the Veil
of Ignorance. One any of these paths we forget
who and what we truly are.

As we travel up the Tree of Life we begin to
remember we are a spiritual Child of the Divine
(Path 32) with a soul (Path 31) and higher self
(Path 30) to guide us on our spiritual journey.
We become Self-realized (30), Soul-realized (31)
and God-realized (32). That is we realize we are
a part of the Divine (32) living as an individual
soul (31) and we are not our ego (30).

As we incarnate into this life we forget
everything. We forget why we came here (30), what
we know (31) and who we are (32). As we climb the
Tree of Life we remember who we are (32), the
truth of what we know (31) and why we came here
(30). Then we begin our true spiritual journey.

These are deep truths about us. These are the
Universal Laws revealed by the Tree of Life.

Namaste,
John

_______________________________________________
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Make My Way  your home on the Web - http://www.myway.com

Gentlepeople,

This is going to be a remarkable series of
lessons about how you can empower your clients to
take control of their own lives. This is a
client-centered method for reading Tarot cards.
This is not a way to counsel and advise your
clients, but a way to coach and empower them.

Tarot readers who tell their clients what to do
are targeted for police investigation.
Unfortunately, very few law enforcement people
know anything about the Tarot. So they approach
their investigation from the viewpoint that the
Tarot reader is doing something illegal.

One of the basic laws of the Universe is that if
you think something is illegal, you will find
enough evidence to prove you're right. If you
think something is legal, you'll find enough
evidence to prove you're right. Whatever you
think, you can find enough evidence to prove
you're right.

When Tarot readers are investigated by people who
believe they're doing something wrong, the
outcome is not as positive as it might be.

But in my experience, when you empower your
clients instead of advising them to do something,
things turn out better than you might expect.
Clients you empower will support and endorse you.
Law enforcement officers who investigate clients
empowered by you change their minds about you
being guilty. They're right -- you are innocent
of any wrong-doing in your Tarot readings.

The best compliment you can receive as a Tarot
reader is when an officer who has been
investigating you asks for a Tarot reading!

EMPOWERING TAROT PART ONE - THE FOUR ELEMENTS

ASSIGNMENT ONE

Define the four Elements as you want to define
them and assign one Element to each of the four
Elemental suits in your tarot deck.

COMMENTS

Pentacles are usually assigned to the Element of
Earth. Earth is usually defined as possessions,
finances and health. One way to define them is
upright pentacles refer to finances and
possessions and inverted pentacles refers to
health.

Wands are usually assigned to the Element of
Fire. Fire is usually defined as needs, wants,
desires, passions, cravings, addictions, work,
employment and vocation. One way to define them
is upright wands refer to needs, wants, desires
or passions and inverted wands refer to a job or
career.

Cups are usually assigned to the Element of
Water. Water is usually defined as emotions,
anger, peace, fear, freedom, sadness, happiness,
joy, love and relationships. One way is to define
them is upright cups refer to emotional issues
and inverted cups refer to relationship issues.

Swords are usually assigned to the Element of
Air. Air is usually assigned to the mind,
thoughts, ideas, imagination, memory, intuition,
reason, intentions, beliefs and attitudes. One
way is to define them is upright swords refers to
thoughts and intentions and inverted swords
refers to attitudes and beliefs.

ASSIGNMENT TWO

Having assigned a meaning to both the upright and
inverted cards of the four Elemental suits,
shuffle your deck and practice saying what these
card refer to in any reading you do. The more you
practice, the easier it will be for you to
remember the meaning of the suits for all upright
and inverted pip and court cards.

One way to do this is to go through the whole
deck saying out loud what these upright and
inverted cards refer to in a Tarot reading. When
you come to a Major Arcana card, say this refers
to a spiritual path if upright and a blocked
spiritual path if inverted. As we will see, this
is what those cards mean. The more you practice,
the better Tarot reader you'll become more
quickly.

Assignment Two is devised to prepare you for the
next lesson.

Namaste,
John

PS: Please invite your friends to join this group
so you can do practice readings for each other.
That's a great way to learn!

Gentlepeople,

I'd like to welcome several dozen new readers.
WELCOME! Thanks for joining our newsletter. I
hope it will help you become a better Tarot
reader. I hope you will help more people by
empowering them to take control of their own
lives.

ASSIGNMENT THREE

Define the meaning for the Aces, twos,
threes,fours, and fives of the suit cards in your
Tarot deck.

COMMENTS

Aces usually refer to beginnings including things
like the start of something new, births,weddings,
relationships, new jobs and the like. Using the
lessons we learned in the Universal Laws, my
definition for the Aces is "Awareness." This
means my client has recently become aware,is now
becoming aware, or has been aware for sometime
about something indicated by the suit of the ace.

Twos usually refer to additions including new
responsibilities, new children, more work, more
frustration or more of something good or bad.
Using the lessons we learned in the Universal
Laws, my definition for the twos is "Intentions."
This means my client has already developed
intentions, is now developing intentions or plans
to develop intentions regarding the subject of
the suit of the two.

Threes usually refer to things growing faster
than anticipated. This is the same energy of the
twos but it may be getting out of hand, going and
growing too fast. Using the lessons we learned in
the Universal Laws, my definition for the threes
is "Beliefs." My client already has developed
beliefs or belief systems, is now defining them
or plans to develop beliefs about the things
defined by the suit of the threes.

Fours usually refer to bringing order back to the
chaos of the threes. Using the lessons we learned
in the Universal Laws my definition for the fours
is "Compassion." My client has previously applied
compassion, is now being compassionate, or will
become compassionate concerning the issues
defined by the suit of the fours.

Fives usually refer to much control forced on us
to resolve the previous chaos. Using the lessons
we learned in the Universal Laws my definition
for the fives is "Power." My client has
previously expressed power, is now expressing
power or will be expressing power over the issues
defined by the suit of the fives.

REMEMBER

Remember that the numbers are neutral and we
color the number by our thoughts,
beliefs,attitudes and feelings. That means our
awareness can be positive, neutral or negative.
So can our expression of our intentions, beliefs,
compassion and power.

ASSIGNMENT FOUR

Having assigned meaning tot he ones, twos,threes,
fours and fives of your Tarot deck, pull those
twenty cards and use them as flash cards to
remind you of the meanings you're assigning to
these twenty cards in the upright and inverted
position. Practice at this stage of the lessons
is what develops our intuitive powers to do an
empowering Tarot reading later. The more you
practice now,the easier it will be for you to
master this system and the more empowering your
Tarot readings will become.

THE FIRST SECRET

One secret to becoming a great Tarot reader is to
build your own system for reading the cards. This
means you define the meaning you want to use for
each card in the deck. By doing that your Tarot
deck becomes an expression of the unique person
you are and you will draw to you the people who
need your energy and insights. You will draw to
you the people you can actually help. Be yourself
in all things. That's the first secret to
becoming a great Tarot reader.

Namaste,
John

Gentlepeople,

Based on the comments I'm receiving, most of you
are anxious to get started using this new system
for reading tarot cards. Great! If my former
students are any indication, your enthusiasm will
help you become a much more professional reader
within a very few weeks. So I support your
enthusiasm and encourage you to practice as much
as you can.

ASSIGNMENT FIVE

Define the meaning for the sixes, sevens, eights,
nines and tens of the suit cards in your Tarot
deck.

COMMENTS

Sixes usually refer to our recovery from the
constraints placed on us as we controlled the
chaos in our lives. Using the lessons learned in
the Universal Laws, my definition for the sixes
is "Harmony." This means my client has already
come in harmony, is now coming into harmony, or
will come into harmony with something indicated
by the suit of the six. Our desires determine who
we are and what we do all the time.

Sevens usually refer to the success of our
recovery indicated by the sixes of the same suit.
Using the lessons learned in the Universal Laws,
my definition for the sevens is "Desire." This is
the First law of Attraction - We attract to our
selves the things and people we need to manifest
our desires. My client has already attracted, is
attracting or will attract the things, people and
circumstances to manifest what he or she desires.

Eights usually refer to the peace we achieve as a
result of our success expressed by the seven of
the same suit. Using the lessons learned in the
Universal Laws, my definition for the eights is
"Objectives." This is the Second Law of
Attraction - We attract to ourselves the people
and resources we need to manifest our objectives
in life. My client has already attracted, is in
the process of attracting or will attract the
people and resources he or she needs to manifest
her or his objectives at this time. Our mind
creates our life based on our objectives at any
given time.

Nines usually refer to the completion of this
particular cycle. Using the lessons learned in
the Universal Laws, my definition for the nines
is "Emotional Matrix." This is the Third and
Final Law of Attraction - We attract to ourselves
the people and things we need to satisfactorily
express our emotions and manifest meaningful
relationships in our life. My client has already
attracted, is in the process of attracting or
will attract exactly what is required to express
the emotions and form the relationships needed at
this time in his or her life. We build our life
based on our own emotional matrix.

Tens usually refer to endings and new beginnings.
Using the lessons learned in the Universal Laws,
my definition for the tens is "Manifestation." My
clients have manifested, are in the process of
manifesting or will manifest exactly what is
required to continue his or her spiritual
growth.

ASSIGNMENT SIX

Having assigned meaning to the sixes, sevens,
eights, nines and tens of your Tarot deck, pull
those twenty cards and use them as flash
cards to remind you of the meanings you're
assigning to these twenty cards in the upright
and inverted position.The more you practice
these things, the quicker you'll learn ho to
empower yourself and your clients.

Namaste,
John

Gentlepeople,

I also write a weekly post for Gnostic News on Yahoogroups. This week I started
a discussion of the Gnostic Christian Cabala as differentiated from the Jewish
Kaballah and the Muslim Qabala. All of them were born out of the Sumerian
Tablets written around 3500 BC.

At about the same time 3500 BC the Hindu Vedas were being written about the same
topics we're going to discuss for the next 33 weeks. What we discuss here will
be discussed in Gnostic News. But we'll be talking about the Tarot instead of
the Tree of Life.

The Tree of Life is the story of five worlds or five stages of growth. The first
stage is that of "Being." We exist, we are, we just are. This is our true
spiritual being. Because we are, we begin to think.

When we think we expand out of our spiritual being into our mental being. That
is we move from pure spirit into being thinking spirit. Pure spirit is the World
of Spirit, the World of Being. Thinking spirit is the World of Air, the World of
the Mind.

The more we think, we begin to reflect on our own thoughts. When we reflect on
our own thoughts, feelings arise. As we begin to feel our thoughts we move from
the World of Air into the World of Water, our World of Emotions.

Think about that for a moment. We create our own emotions with the thoughts in
our own mind that we reflect upon. We have a thought. We reflect upon that
thought and we create an emotion based on our own thoughts. That's the World of
Water.

Not all thoughts become emotions. Not all of our emotions become desires. Some
do and when we move from the World of Water, the World of our Emotions into our
World of Desires we find ourselves in the World of Fire.

We think in the World of Air. We feel emotions in the World of Water. But in the
World of Fire our desires take over. We think about the things we want to think
about. That's our personal World of Air. Our very thoughts create our emotions
and we are the master of our own emotions. That's our personal World of Water.

But when we cross the threshold into the World of Fire, our desires take control
of us. What we want becomes what we need. What we need becomes a craving, a
passion; and what we crave becomes an addiction.

We manifest in physical reality because of our cravings and addictions. We
manifest things in our lives because of our wants, needs, cravings and
addictions. This is our World of Earth, our world of manifestation. This is the
world we create, we manifest our World of Earth.

In the Tarot the Major Arcana represent the twenty-two spiritual things we
think, emote, want and manifest in our Four Worlds of Air, Water, Fire and
Earth. Air is represented by swords. Some authors say Air is wands. If you want
to do that, do so. I will use swords for Air, but you can use wands for Air.

In the Tarot Water is represented by cups, and Fire is represented by wands --
unless you're going to use swords for Fire. The World of Earth is represented by
pentacles, coins or similar objects.

The important thing to remember is that Air is all about thoughts and thinking,
Water is all about feelings and emotions, Fire is all about wants, needs,
cravings and addictions, and Earth is all about physical things like money and
health.

The World of Spirit is all about spiritual things and the way we bring our
spirit down into the manifested world, the World of Earth.

Think about these things so you understand them with every fiber of your being
and the Tarot will be an easy thing for you to master. Play with these ideas and
you will play with the Tarot. Ignore these ideas and the beauty and wisdom of
the Tarot will forever escape you.

That's a truth you cannot escape.

Then decide which suits of the Tarot deck you will assign to these Five Worlds
-- the Five Worlds of the Cabala.

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

If you read the introduction you know there are Five Worlds according to the
Cabala and five suits in the Tarot. Here's what we know about the earliest Tarot
decks:

1. The Major Arcana, or trumps as they were called, represent our spiritual
journey through life. We travel twenty-two spiritual paths according to the
Cabala. There are twenty-two trump cards in a Tarot deck by definition.

2. The Minor Arcana is comprised of four suits of fourteen cards each. The cards
numbered one through ten represent the "resting places" where we contemplate the
part of our spiritual journey we just completed. The Cabala has defined each of
these "resting places" and placed them at strategic places along our spiritual
journey.

3. The four Court Cards represented the four stations in society. Pages
represented youth. Knights represented adolescence. Pages and Knights were young
boys. Young girls were not represented by the earliest decks for reasons we will
discover much later. Queens represented mature women and Kings represented
mature men. The people of that time knew exactly what these four ranks of card
represented. So will we...

4. The four suits of the earliest Tarot decks represented the Elements of Air,
Water, Fire and Earth. Our ancestors knew understood Air to be what we call the
Mind, Water to be the Emotions, Fire to be our Desires and Earth to be our
Things.

5. Air is thoughts and ideas, intentions, beliefs and imagination.

6. Water is feelings of love and hate, happiness and sorrow, freedom and fear,
acceptance and resentments, anger and peace. They saw all other emotions as an
expression of one or more of these basic emotions.

7. Fire is our wants and needs, passions and desires, cravings and addictions.

8. Earth is our health and illness, wealth and poverty.

9. Spirit is our being, the true person we are, our own Highest Self or our own
Holy Guardian Angel. Spirit is who we really and truly are.

Many of these concepts are not a part of the Judaic - Christian - Muslim
religions today. But they were when the Tarot was being created prior to the
Inquisition -- during the first century of the modern era through the early part
of the thirteenth century.

Please take the time to look at the Tarot deck you want to use for this series
of Cabala Tarot Lessons. Consider how your deck personifies these nine ancient
concepts contained within the earliest Tarot decks.

Determine which of the suits in your Tarot represent Air, Fire, Water and Earth.
The Spiritual Element is already decided for you in the Cabala.

Peace, Love, Happiness and Joy,
John

Gentlepeople,

  Let's take a little trip into the world of Quantum Physics. Over the past fifty
years Quantum Physics has proven a number of very interesting things:

1. The first thing it proved is that light is energy and that energy is composed
of consciousness. It is mind stuff. Light is mind stuff.

2. The second thing Quantum Physics proved is that gravity makes light bend.
Gravity is an energy -- one of the four basic energies. The others are
electromagnetic energy like radio waves, TV waves and light waves, then there's
the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force. These are the four building
blocks of everything that exists.

3. The third thing Quantum Physics proved is that time is vertical -- that is
all time exists now as a mental construct. Every time exists now. The past and
the future all exist right now in this present moment. Time is not horizontal as
we thought -- it is not a past that is gone, a present that is now, and a future
that will exist sometime in the future. All time is now.

4. The fourth thing Quantum Physics proved is that here is there and over there
is here. There is no space. We are all one and we are connected and there is no
space between us because time and space are illusions and they are not real.

5. The fifth thing Quantum Physics proved is that everything is mental, its all
mind, everything is thought. Matter is energy. Energy is a thought made up
entirely of consciousness and only consciousness.

Quantum physics is on the verge of proving beyond a doubt that there is a God
and that God is the source of all consciousness. That God is and always has been
the Only Consciousness. That God is the Only Thing that is real. Everything else
is a thought.

The creation was thought into being within the Mind that is God. We are all a
thought in the Mind that is God. Everything is thought. It may look like matter,
but it is a thought. It may look like energy but it is a thought. It may feel
like an emotion but it is a thought.

It is all a thought in that part of the One Mind that is us -- and we are a
thought in that part of the Divine Mind where our True Self exists as that
thought.

At the end of the First Millennium and into the eleventh, twelfth  and
thirteenth centuries, the Christian Cabala was teaching the same things that
Quantum Physics is teaching today. Those things were and are:

1. There is One God and Only One God
2. Everything else is an illusion growing in the Mind of the One God
3. The One God is neither male nor female, man nor woman
4. The One God is the Creator of Everything
5. The One God is the Father and Mother of everything in the Creation
6. The One God is the Creator God, Father God and Mother God
7. Our True Being -- the "real" us -- is a part of Father, Mother Creator God

As we shall see, the Cabala Tarot is a representation of Father, Mother, Creator
God and the whole Creation. Like the Divine Creator, the Cabala Tarot may look
like 78 separate things, but it is all One.

The more you understand this Quantum Physics lesson, the easier it will be for
you to understand the Tarot and create your own way of using it to understand
everything in the Creation.

Next week we will start our spiritual journey into the Cabala Tarot.

Peace, Love, Happiness and Joy,
John

Gentlepeople,

The Christian Cabala teaches that there are ten spheres of consciousness and
that these ten spheres are ten steps we can take to become anything, do anything
or to think anything.

The first step is to become aware. Here's what that looks like:

1. Sit down with paper and pen. Prepare to write down whatever comes to you.
Breathe deeply and relax. Close your eyes if you want to do that. Be
comfortable, breath deeply and relax.

2. When you start thinking about something, write it down. Your mind will run
faster than you can write, so ask it to slow down to the pace you can write.
Your mind will do as you command -- if you mean it.

3. Write for as long as you feel comfortable writing. Then stop and read what
you wrote. Don't be surprised, just become aware.

Tarot and Time

Everything happens in the present, in the "now." If it already happened, it's in
the past. If it hasn't happened yet it's in the future.

Your knowledge of the present is fairly reliable.

The further it is in the past the more likely your memory is colored by the
events, thoughts and feelings you're had since then. Our memories are flawed by
the events, thoughts and feelings we've had since that memory was created.

The further it is in the future the more likely future events, thoughts and
feelings you have between now and then will change the future. What we think of
the future is based on predictions and all predictions are flawed.

The aces in Tarot decks are the first step in understanding the pip cards or
Minor Arcana. According to the Cabala the aces represent the first step in doing
or becoming anything. They represent the key concept awareness.

If this awareness happened in the past, our memory may be inaccurate or
mistaken. If this awareness is to happen in the future, it may not happen
because of future circumstances. If this awareness is happening now, it's likely
happening whether you believe it or not.

If the Aces represent awareness, here's how that might look:

AIR - I became, am becoming or will become aware of some thought or idea that
has the potential to solve my issue -- no matter what that issue may be.

WATER - I became, am becoming or will become aware of my feelings about this
issue -- no matter what this issue may be.

FIRE - I became, am becoming or will become aware of my need or desire to solve
my own issue -- no matter what that issue may be.

Earth - I became, am becoming or will become aware of how to manifest the
solution to my issue-- no matter what that issue may be.

That issue can be anything For example, it is the issue surrounding the reading,
it is the issue expressed by your client's question, it is the issue of the
past, present of future. It is the work, employment, job, health or money the
client seeks. It is the relationship, love of my life, friendship or lover my
client seeks. It is the problem I want to solve.

Aces are all about becoming aware of what you or your client can do. They are
all about new ideas, new feelings, new desires and new things in your client's
life.

Aces indicate a previous, present or future awareness. The suit of the ace tells
you what this awareness is about. The place of the ace in your spread defines
the way this awareness has, is or will manifest itself.

Play with your aces and see them as representing your awareness about something.
To play with something according to the Cabala is to test it, try it and to
experiment with it until you understand it.

Peace, Love, Happiness and Joy,
John

Gentlepeople,

Once you become aware of something -- the Aces you automatically start to think
about your awareness. You pay attention to whatever comes into your awareness.
You concentrate or focus on things in your awareness.

The second step of all learning is to pay attention, concentrate and focus on
the things that come into your awareness. Until you're aware of something, you
don't think about it. Once you become aware of something you focus on that --
you concentrate or pay attention to the things in your awareness.

The Magician focuses on the the things in his or her awareness. These are
represented by the aces. We become aware of thoughts (Air), emotions and
connecting with others (Water), desires, wants, needs and passions as well as
cravings and addictions (Fire) and money, finances, possessions and health
(Earth). We are the Magician.

The Magician pays attention to the Air, Water, Fire and Earth in her or his
awareness. He or she concentrates on these things. The Magician focuses,
concentrates on and pays attention to these things as they affect her or his
spiritual path or his or her physical life -- and sometimes both.

Study your aces and Magician to get a feeling about how paying attention to the
Air, Fire, Water and Earth in your life leads to spiritual awareness.

Pay attention to your thoughts and ideas, emotions and relationships, wants and
desires, finances and health this week and awaken to the awareness that you are
a spiritual being concentrating on these things.

Your body is your temporary home. Your thoughts and ideas are fleeting. Your
emotions and relationships are sometimes stable and sometimes not. Your wants
and desires become needs cravings and addictions or they become part of the
meaningless past. Your finances go up and down, your health gets better or not.

Everything changes while you become aware and pay attention. You grow and thus
you change too. Everything changes.

You don't have to pay attention. Paying attention is a decision we make. We can
also choose not to concentrate or focus on an awareness. When we do that our
inattention leads us away from spiritual awareness and into the chaos of life.

We become spiritually unaware of whom and what we truly are. We forget we are a
spiritual being and we start to behave differently. We lose our way and we step
off the path we came here to travel. We become a Black Magician and we learn to
harm ourselves and others.

The choice in all things is ours to make. We can shut down and become unaware.
We don't have to pay attention, concentrate or focus on anything. We can
withdraw from life and forget we are a spiritual being who came here to learn
how to accept, forgive and love more and more.

The Tarot is a tool to help us do just that -- to help us learn how to accept,
forgive and love everything and everyone more and more.

But we don't have to use the tools available to us. We can misuse them or ignore
them. We can become a White or Black Magician or we can choose to not be a
magician at all.

If you choose to be a Magician pay attention to life. Concentrate on the things
in your awareness. Focus on being a better human being. Become aware and be a
Magician. Use your Air, Fire, Water and Earth to become spiritually aware.

Peace, Love, Happiness and Joy,
John

Gentlepeople,

So far we've learned the Aces represent the beginning of everything. The Cabala
teaches us that the beginning of everything is becoming aware that something is
possible. Until we become aware of something , we don't even think about it.

We've also learned the Magician represents paying attention -- or it tells us to
pay attention -- to something in our awareness. By paying attention to what is
in front of us we learn. Learning results in knowledge.

When I was a Boy Scout Counselor at summer camp my junior year in high school,
my boss's wife went to the hospital for exploratory surgery. She had gained a
good deal of weight and complained of severe gastric intestinal pain.

She and her husband were really surprised when the anesthesia induced severe
contractions and she gave birth to a ten pound baby boy. At the time I wondered
how anybody could be pregnant and not even know it.

Throughout my life I've seen literally dozens of opportunities right in front of
me that somebody else turned into a business. I wasn't paying attention to the
things right in front of my nose. More than that, I wasn't even aware of some of
the things right in front of me.

Now I understand.

Somebody else became aware and started paying attention. They used this
knowledge to form an intention to do something. They decided to do something.
They wanted to do something. They needed to do something. They desired to do
something. Their desire to do something became a passion then a craving and
finally an addiction to do it and they did it.

They did not birth a ten pound baby, but much to their surprise they did birth a
money-making machine. The first step was to become aware that something might be
possible -- represented by the Aces.

The second step was to pay attention to their thoughts about the things right in
front of them -- represented by the Magician. The third step is to decide what
to do about this knowledge -- represented by the Deuces.

It works like this:

I become aware of something that looks healthy. I pay attention to it and I
decide to do something about it. The Ace of Earth told me to become aware of
something for my health. The Magician told me to pay attention and the Deuce of
Earth told me to make a decision.

Now try it for yourself:

You become aware of something that looks like a money maker. So you pull out the
Ace and Deuce of Earth and place the Magician between them. Now write your own
story.

You become aware of something that might improve a relationship. So you pull out
the Ace and Deuce of Water and place the Magician between them. Now write your
own story.

You become aware of something that might improve your job, business or vocation.
So you pull our the Ace and Deuce of Fire and place the Magician between them.
Now write your own story.

You become aware of something that might improve your mind, memory or mental
acuity. So you pull out the Ace and Deuce of Air and place the Magician between
them. Now write your own story.

The first thing you need to do is decide with suit is which of the Elements
mentioned above. Do it. Make a decision. Whatever you decide is right for you
and that's all that counts. It doesn't matter what other people think or what
other people do and teach. Do what's right for you.

The second thing you need to decide is how to tell the difference between two
things like money and health. You can tell the difference by how you phrase your
question. You can tell the difference by whether the card in inverted (upside
down) or upright.

You can tell the difference by the card above, below, to the right or the left
of your card. You can pull a second card to help you decide using any technique
you like. You can create your own system for doing this.

One way is to say that Water and Earth are positive towards each other. So are
Fire and Air positive toward each other. Water and Earth are feminine while Fire
and Air are masculine. Some authors call this "dignity."

Another way is to say that masculine attracts feminine and feminine attracts
masculine. Then Water and Earth are good for either Fire or Air; and Fire and
Air are good for either Water or Earth. Some authors call this "unusual." It
doesn't matter what other people think. If this works for you, then it works for
you. If it doesn't work for you, then it doesn't. You have the right to decide
what works best for you. Nobody else does.

If you learn nothing else from these first three lessons, learn that what you
decide will work for you because it's based on your awareness and what you
learned by paying attention to your awareness. Step three is all about you
deciding what's right for you.

I repeat myself. Step three is all about you deciding what's right for you.
That's what the Deuces are all about too.

Namaste,
John

Gentlepeople,

Several of you asked me to explain what I mean by "Write your own story." Here's
one example:

You say: "You become aware of something that might improve a relationship. So
you pull out the Ace and Deuce of Water and place the Magician between them. Now
write your own story."

I REALLY DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW TO DO THAT.

You can use this technique if you need to become aware or if you already are
aware of something to help a relationship. Here's how it works:

The Ace of Cups represents the awareness you have or seek. The Magician
represents paying attention or concentrating on that awareness. The Deuce of
Cups represents your intentions, goals, aspirations or objective based on your
awareness.

Pick up the Ace, prop it up or lay it where you can easily see it. Get out your
paper and pen/pencil. Look at the Ace with an open mind and think about your
awareness. Write down everything that comes to you. Keep doing this until you
know it's time to take another look at what you wrote down.

Exchange places with the Ace and Magician. Look at the Magician and pay
attention to each thing you wrote down. Write down anything that comes to your
while you're looking at the Magician and thinking about what you wrote regarding
your awareness. Keep doing this until you know it's time to move on.

Exchange places with the Magician and Deuce. Look at the Deuce and decide what
you would like to do about everything you're written down so far. Write it down.
Revisit your notes as often as you like until you've done what you decided to do
-- or until you change your mind and decide not to do anything about this issue.

The first time you do this, you will undoubtedly experience mixed thoughts and
reactions. Most of us do. The first things you write down usually turn out to be
getting into the flow -- things you don't feel are important. When you get in
tune with yourself and the card in front of you, things change into really
important "stuff."

The more you practice the less time you spend getting into the flow. That is the
less time you spend opening your third eye -- your subconscious mind -- and the
deeper you go inside yourself to obtain really good answers.

Here's the Truth:

The more you get into your subconscious mind and out of your rational mind, the
more spiritual you become and the better you are at reading Tarot cards for
yourself and others.

If there's one exercise that makes anybody a better Tarot reader, I believe it's
this exercise. If there's one exercise that makes anybody a better Spiritual
Alchemist, a better Esoteric Freemason, a better Esoteric Rosicrucian, a better
teacher, a better employee, a better student, a better manager, a better spouse
and lover, it's this one.

Become Aware. Pay Attention. Set Goals. Ace - Magician - Deuce.

Balance your mind. Balance your emotions. Balance your energy. Balance your life
in this physical reality. It's all about becoming aware, paying attention and
then setting goals.

Namaste,
John

Gentlepeople,

Quite a few of you asked me how to identify unawareness, inattention,
and not intending to do anything. I'll start addressing this right now.

1. One way is to use inverted, reversed or upside-down cards. An
inverted Ace indicates the client is not aware of whatever the suit of
the Ace means. A reversed Deuce indicates the client is not making a
decision about whatever the suit means. An upside-down Magician is not
paying attention to his or her awareness or decisions.

2. Another way is to use dignities. Choose one of the many ways of using
dignity with Tarot cards. The Tarot Institute discusses this method.

3. Intuitive readers can rely on their intuition.

4. You can also draw another card where the number of the card is all
that matters. An even number means to read the first card normally. An
odd number means to read the first card as being reversed. (See above)

Advanced Comments About the Magician

The Magician represents the Path of Concentration. Concentration can
also be described as focus, attending, being attentive and paying
attention. We learned that the Magician pays attention to our awareness
(Aces). But it's also true the Magician pays attention to our decisions
or intentions (Deuces). The Path of the Magician connects the Aces and
Deuces.

In my experience as a reader I've found that mentioning the spheres of
consciousness at both ends of the path is a better approach for me. With
the Magician I would simply state:

1. (Past) You were simply not paying attention to the things in your
awareness or the decisions you were making or both.

2. (Present) You need to pay attention to the things you're thinking
about and the decision you're making.

3. (Future) As you move ahead, please pay attention to what's in your
mind and the decisions you're making.

The Path of Remembering and Forgetting

The Path of Remembering and Forgetting is represented by the High
Priestess (Key II). In the normal position it says you remembered
(past), you remember (now) or you will remember (future). Inverted it
means you forgot, are forgetting or will forget. Remember or forget
what?

First of all, it means remembering or forgetting the things in your
awareness. We now know that your awareness comes from your Higher Self
and from the decisions you've already made.

Your awareness changes anytime you concentrate on your awareness. Your
awareness changes every time you make a decision. Making a decision and
paying attention to what happens after you make a decision changes your
awareness.

Secondly, it means remembering or forgetting what you learned when you
concentrated on something in your awareness. Thirdly, it means
remembering or forgetting a decision you made are are making.

But it get's more complicated. The things you remember and forget also
change your awareness. Change your awareness and you change your focus
and your intentions.

When you have a card on the table close to the High Priestess, the
probability is you are also remembering or forgetting something
suggested by those close-by cards. The more intuitively you read the
cards, the easier it will be for you to "know" which cards are important
and which are not as important.

In the beginning, it pays to remember that Aces, Deuces and Key I all
interact with Key II. The other cards near the High Priestess may --
emphasis on may -- interact as well. Beginners that mention these other
possibilities usually tend to become more intuitive more quickly than
those beginners who do not.

That's one of the reasons I prefer to teach beginners how to do only
one, two, three and four card readings until they master those spreads.
Then when you do larger spreads you really do know what you're doing.
You're doing a series of smaller spreads within the big one.

Think about the Celtic Cross: You have a two-card reading in the middle,
a four card reading around the circle and a four card reading up the
line on your right. You also have ten one-card readings as you go.
Master one-card readings and you master the Celtic Cross.

Namaste,
John







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Gentlepeople,

The first three steps of this journey were all about the ever-present 'Now." We
become aware or not right now. We focus, concentrate and pay attention or not
right now. We make a decision or form an intention or not right now.

The fourth step took us into the past into our memory where we remember or not.
Not remembering may be a defense mechanism to protect ourselves from things we
don't want to remember for one reason or not. Sometimes we feel safe by doing
that.

But not remembering can also be caused by stuffing our emotions. We stuff
emotions because we don't want to feel them -- we don't want to resolve them.
Unfortunately, stuffed emotions continue to cause us pain until we face our
emotional issues and resolve them.

The inverted High Priestess could simply be telling our client that they forgot
something related to the cards around the High Priestess. She could also be
telling us our client has emotional issues to resolve.

The fifth step is the Key III Empress. The Empress is fruitful. Imagination is
fruitful. By imagining the possibilities we can discover things that will help
us somehow, somewhere. We can find the answers to perplexing problems and
questions.

By not imagining the possibilities we may discover we already know the answer to
our questions. It could also mean were don't want to know the answers. We may
prefer to sabotage ourselves. We may be done with whatever birthed our
questions. We may be deceiving ourselves.

Key III tells us to to Imagine or not.

If Key III is in the past position we are asked to imagine what might be
different if we had done something different in the past.

If Key III is in the present position we are asked to imagine what we could do
today to change some part of our life.

If Key III is in the future position we are asked to start planning our future
and keep on planning it until we manifest it.

If inverted Key III is in the reading it announces we are not using our
imagination. As a professional reader you may want to explore why your client is
afraid to imagine the possibilities. For your own readings you will find it
beneficial to start imagining the future.

Please understand these definitions -- as are all Tarot definitions -- the
opinion of the author. Everything about the Tarot is written in sand. Nothing
about the Tarot is written in stone.

Tarot is a tool for anybody to communicate with their own Higher Self. You
define each card to mean what you want it to mean. Your Higher Self will
remember those definitions even if you don't. And every time you pull a card
from your deck, your Higher Power is telling you: "I remember what that card
means and I'm giving it to you now with that meaning.

If somebody tells you what a card means, smile and thank them for sharing. Then
go define that card with the meaning you want to give it.

That's how to start becoming a master Tarot reader.

Namaste,

John

Gentlepeople,

Step 1 was to Become Aware (Aces)
Step 2 was to Pay Attention (Key I)
Step 3 was to Decide Your Intentions  (Deuces)
Step 4 was to Remember (Key II)
Step 5 was to Imagine the Possibilities (Key III)
Step 6 is to Believe (Threes)

These six steps define the World of Mind -- the World of Thoughts and Ideas. To
be aware (aces), to pay attention (Key I), to decide (twos), to remember (Key
II), to imagine (Key III) and to believe (threes) all require thinking and
nothing but thinking. That's what our minds do.

Place the four suited three cards in front of you. They mean to believe in
yourself, to believe in others, to believe in our own thoughts and ideas, to
believe in your faith, to believe in yourself and to believe in the Divine.

These four cards mean to have faith in yourself, others and the Divine. They
mean to have faith in your thoughts, ideas and knowledge, your intentions,
memories and your plans for the future. They also mean to accept yourself, your
beliefs, thoughts and ideas, knowledge, others, their thoughts and ideas and to
accept the Divine.

The Three of Air means to believe, accept and have faith in your thoughts and
ideas about anything and everything.

The Three of Water means to believe, accept and have faith concerning what you
think about your own emotions.

The Three of Fire means to believe, accept and have faith concerning your own
desires, wants, needs and cravings.

The Three of Earth means to have believe, accept and have faith in what you
think about your own health and finances.

If you're reading for another person then it's about their thoughts and not
yours.

You know your mind. You know what you thing. Have faith. Believe and accept what
you know about your own thoughts and ideas. That's what the threes of any suit
mean.

The inverted, or reversed, threes mean exactly what you define them to mean.
Since Mind also includes our negative thoughts about ourselves, the inverted
cards could be used to alert us that our self-thinking is false. Our negative
thoughts about ourselves are harming us.

But, as I said. Inverted cards mean exactly what you define them to mean and
nothing more or nothing less.

This is the most important Tarot lesson you will ever learn: The Tarot cards
mean exactly what you consciously or unconsciously define them to mean for you.

Your subconscious mind remembers how you define them and causes the precise card
to appear that explains exactly what you need to know. I am sharing with you how
the Christian Cabala defined these cards within the early Roman Catholic Church
before some Pope decided "he" didn't want the people to know this wisdom.

When you learn and understand the Tarot, you will learn the truth and the truth
is we are all Children of the Divine. So are all the animals, plants, rocks and
stones. Everything in the Creation was created by the Divine. We are all --
every one and every thing -- the Children of the Divine.

We do not need priests to help us become spiritual. We -- all of us -- are
already spiritual. That's who we are. The more you study and use the Tarot, the
more you will know and understand this basic truth: Each and every one of us and
everything in the Creation is a Child of the Divine.

So I ask you: Which is more spiritual? To honor the plants, animals, Mother
Earth and Father Sky or to destroy our enemies and every plant, animal and thing
they own in the name of the Divine?

We're going to discuss the Void -- also called the Great Abyss -- for the next
five steps. But before we get there, it's important for you to take the time to
define what you want the Keys I, II, III, and the aces, twos and threes of your
Tarot deck to mean for you. You have the choice to define upright, inverted or
both upright and inverted cards. Have Fun!

Namaste,
John

Gentlepeople,

We now enter the Great Abyss which separates the World of Mind from the World of
Emotions. The Great Abyss is also called the Third Veil, the Veil of Reflection.
For it is here that the Mind reflects upon itself.

The Mind reflects upon its own thoughts and ideas, awareness, intentions and
beliefs that it concentrates upon, remembers and imagines. This creates energy.
Actually, the Mind creates very subtle energy as it reflects on the things it
has in itself.

This very subtle energy becomes subtle emotional energy in the World of
Emotions. Subtle emotional energy becomes sexual or passion energy in the World
of Desires. And, eventually, desire energy become kinetic or potential energy
for good or evil in the Physical World.

All energy is born in the Void, the Great Abyss. The mind is the parent of all
energy. The mind is the Source of Everything in the Worlds of Water, Fire and
Earth. The Mind of the Divine is the Source of Everything. The mind of
everything else is the source of everything that mind creates.

Step Seven is the Tarot Key IV.

The path for Key IV originates in the Sphere of Intentions and it crosses the
Great Abyss to terminate in the World of Water. Key IV symbolizes the mind
reflecting upon its own thoughts and ideas to reason out what should happen
next. The more the mind reasons things out by turning its thoughts and ideas
over and over, very subtle energy is created in the Void.

Key IV is all about reasoning things out -- logically and systematically
reasoning things out. It is the card of reason, logic and intense thinking.

Step Eight is the four fours in the Minor Arcana.

The path for Key IV terminates in the Fourth Sphere of Consciousness, known as
the Sphere of Compassion and Vindictiveness, after it crossed over the Great
Abyss.

This is a world of emotional turmoil, where things are both good and bad, happy
and sad, kind and heartless, merciful and merciless, charitable and greedy,
compassionate and vindictive, loving and apathetic, joyful and sorrowful,
cheerful and melancholy, kind and unkind, hopeful and depressed.

As a Tarot student and reader you can separate the positive aspects from the
negative by using reversals, dignities, both reversals and dignities or some
other system. For example, if you use reversals then the upright meaning of the
fours becomes compassion, good, positive, mercy, happy, joyful, cheerful, kind
and loving. The inverted fours mean the opposite.

You can also group these meanings. For example, good, positive, happy and joyful
is one group. The second is compassion, mercy, hopeful, love and kind. Inverted,
the first group is bad, negative, sad or depressed and sorrowful. And the second
group is vindictive, merciless, hopeless, unkind and apathetic or unloving.

As with all things in the Tarot, you are the decision maker. You decide what you
want the cards to mean -- you define the meaning of your cards. Once you do that
your subconscious mind will always give you the right card to answer your
questions and concerns.

The first step is for you to define the meaning of each card in your deck. You
can start by defining Keys I - IV and the pip cards 1-4. Now is a good time to
get started.

One way to do that is to read the Cabala Lessons to date, trust your own
intuition and choose the words that work the best for you for each card upright
and inverted. You can use the same word in a positive and negative way.

For example, if Key Four is Compassion and inverted it is Not Compassion, you
can use your subconscious mind to remember any other meaning for any particular
reading. Prove this for yourself. Read about it and try it.

You may amaze yourself -- but it's one of the gifts you have so use it.

Namaste,
John

Gentlepeople,

Last time, we entered the Void -- the Great Abyss -- and took the first step of
moving from the World of Mind into the World of Emotions.

Step 7 created a short path leading from the Sphere of Intentions across the
Great Abyss to the World of Water. This is the Path of Key IV, the path of
reason, logic and analytical thinking.

Step 9 is Tarot Key V.

The path for Key V originates in the Sphere of Beliefs and it crosses the Great
Abyss to terminate in the World of Water. Key V symbolizes the mind reflecting
upon its own thoughts and ideas to intuit what should happen next. The more the
mind reasons things out by turning its thoughts and ideas over and over, very
subtle energy is created in the Void.

Key V is all about intuiting the answers to the questions and problems in the
mind of the individual. It is the card of inner knowing and intuition. It is the
card of intuition, intuitive insights, hunches and gut feelings.

The thoughts and ideas held in the Sphere of Beliefs -- the Sphere of Accepting
and Faith -- move out of there into the World of Emotions by way of Path V. This
is Step Nine of knowing, doing or creating anything -- the step of intuiting
what to do, think or create next.

Step 10 is the Four Fives in the Minor Arcana

The path for Key V terminates in the Sphere of Consciousness known as the Sphere
of Power and Peace. It is also known as the Sphere of Panic and Wrath.  It is
the fifth sphere and the second sphere of emotional turmoil. It is the masculine
aspect of emotional turmoil as opposed to the feminine aspect of emotional
turmoil expressed in Sphere Four.

This Sphere of Power and Panic, Peace and Wrath is also known as the Sphere of
Severity and Leniency, Difficulty and Ease, Pain and Comfort, Fear and Fearless,
Worry and Calm, Apprehensive and Confident.

You decide what words work best for you in the system for reading Tarot cards
that you're creating for yourself. We are, after all, unique human beings. Why
shouldn't we have our own unique system for reading Tarot?

Look at the four pip card Fives in your Tarot deck. Study each one and assign
the words that work best for you to each card. Remember the key words you
assigned to Air, Water, Fire and Earth.

The number of the card and the element of the card help you determine the
meaning of each card, the meaning of that card for you -- and possibly only you.

Step 11 is Key Six

Key Six originates in the Sphere Four, the Sphere of Compassion and Love. It
terminates in Sphere Five, the Sphere of Power and Peace. Like all paths it
leads back and forth from one Sphere to the other. It can come from either
Sphere and go to the other.

Thus the Path of Key Six can start in Sphere Four or Sphere Five and terminate
in the other. It can lead from our Anger and Fear as easily as it can lead from
our Happiness and Love.

The Path of Key Six is the Path of Attraction. If we hang onto the emotions we
acquired in Sphere Four we attract people and things into our life that hold
those same emotions. The same is true if we hang onto the emotions we feel in
Sphere Five.

More than that, since both Sphere Four and Sphere Five are directly connected to
the World of Air, we attract people and things into our life that hang onto the
same thoughts and ideas, intentions and beliefs that we hold.

Key Six indicates we are attracting people and things into our lives that are
emotionally and mentally on the same wavelength we are.

Ponder these things as you create your own system for using and reading the
Tarot.

Namaste,
John

Gentlepeople,

The first two paths across the Great Abyss -- the Path of Logic and Reason (Key
IV) and the Path of Intuition and Insights (Key V) -- are called the short
paths. It doesn't take us long to do these things and get on with our lives, to
move into our World of Emotions.

Step 12 is the Path of Grace

Step 12 is the "longest path" that originates in our Sphere of Awareness (the
four ace pip cards) and crosses the Abyss to the third sphere in the World of
Water. That sphere is Step 13. Step 12 if exemplified by Key VII and it is
called the Path of Divine Intervention.

The Divine comes into our awareness (Sphere 1 = Sphere of Awareness) and
immediately triggers the Path of Divine Intervention and almost immediately
thereafter opens our Sixth Sphere of Consciousness.

The Longest Path, the Path of Divine Intervention, is also called the Path of
Reception because we open ourselves to receive Divine Influence in our lives. We
are open to receive Grace. A common name for this path is the Path of Grace.

We didn't think it through and we didn't resolve our emotional issues, we opened
our hearts and minds to the Divine and we received what we asked for, what we
requested, by Divine Grace, Divine Intervention. This is the meaning of Tarot
Key VII.

Key VII inverted could mean we rejected Divine Grace or we don't open ourselves
to receive Divine intervention. You need to define this card for yourself in
your own private system for reading the Tarot.

Step 13 is the Sphere of Harmony and Conflict

Key VII opens and empowers the Sixth Sphere of Consciousness which is called the
Sphere of Harmony and Conflict. It is also called the Sphere of Accord and
Discord, Agreement and Dissension, Sympathy and Animosity.

The four sixes exemplify the emotional turmoil occurring in this sphere of our
emotional world. You will need to decide how these cards explain and describe
harmony, accord, agreement and sympathy; and how they explain and describe
conflict, discord, dissension and animosity.

You are creating your own unique way of interpreting the Tarot. First you
defines what the cards mean and then you use the cards to answers to the
questions and concerns you have in life. This is much more powerful and
meaningful than trying to memorize any other system created by any other person
-- including me.

Empower yourself: Create your own system for using and reading Tarot.

Namaste,
John