Modern Day Tarot Play: Know yourself, shape your life. Emma Toynbee

      

      

       Copyright

      Thorsons

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

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      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published by Thorsons 2018

      FIRST EDITION

      © Emma Toynbee 2018

      Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018

      Cover illustration © Shutterstock.com

      Illustrator: Nica Galvez, under the art direction of the author

      Quotations from Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo from Cave in the Snow by Vicki Mackenzie © Vicki Mackenzie, 1999, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

      A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

      Emma Toynbee asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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      Source ISBN: 9780008286002

      Ebook Edition © July 2018 ISBN: 9780008286019

      Version: 2018-06-20

       Dedication

      To my divinely driven mum, whose ever-present, affirmatory and expansive approach subsequently shaped the life of her firstborn grandchild: cradled close and speaking their first words in our tending reader’s hands

      Table of Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

       Copyright

       Dedication

       Why This Book?

       PART I: TAROT INTERPRETATION

       The Power of Symbols and Imagery

       Tarot Reading

       PART II: TAROT CARDS

       The Major Arcana

       The Minor Arcana

       Time-Efficient Tarot Card Layouts

       About the Publisher

       Why This Book?

      The tarot has traditionally been used as an esoteric tool for divination purposes, but in the modern day it can be so much more. Anyone and everyone can benefit from reading the tarot, from business professionals to stay-at-home parents. We all need help from time to time to navigate the ups and downs of life, whether it comes from friends, partners, family, teachers, therapists, counsellors, life coaches, preachers or a guru. But no matter to whom we look for higher wisdom and guidance, rarely can they match the complete honesty and instant availability of the tarot. A session with a professional life coach or therapist can be invaluable at any time in life, whether we are in a crisis or simply needing some regular time dedicated to our own personal evolution and development. Yet that session can’t always be perfectly aligned with our impulse to seek out reassurance. The tarot is available day and night, at whatever time and place is most convenient for us to absorb its lessons; all we have to be is ready and willing to improve the quality of our thoughts, and subsequently our life.

      Tarot pushes the black-hole button in the brain. It prompts the rational mind to relinquish control and instantly grant access to previously inaccessible information – and knowledge empowers. In life and business, the tarot can be a go-to device, taking our mind to places it never would otherwise have entered and enabling us to crack any impedimental imbalances or stalemates and move forward. Tarot is about seeing meaning and connections and finding purpose, but also, now more than ever, reworking the mind so that it functions naturally, organically and healthily. We now know what the information age looks and feels like and are starting to realize the impact the rapid advance of technology can have on our personal lives, business and society. The rapid processing power of computerized devices is becoming a substitute for our own judgement, intuition and deeper understanding through direct experience. In short, the computerized world has many benefits, but has also become a kind of mind-crutch, allowing the cognitive brain to call less and less on the limbic intuitive centre.

      One of the effects of the ubiquitous information overload is a sort of analytical paralysis; the sheer amount of information available to us is so overwhelming that we tend to give up the chase and select only the information that confirms a pre-existing condition or belief. It’s time to rise up and reclaim the brain. Rather than being pigeonholed by our usual ‘online’ preferences, we will find that tarot gives our mind a chance to completely refresh itself and avoid getting stuck in automated algorithmic thought ruts.

      Tarot is the point when art and science meet, where we can see the workings of the subconscious mind in material reality. I believe that the most profound and modern application of the tarot is as an inner emotional or psychological mind map, showing where and how our current frame of mind is driving our life. When following any map, as we know, even the smallest degree of adjustment to our planned trajectory can take us miles off-course. Using the tarot as a mind map, we are able to backtrack,