“Tarot tells the truths we dare not tell ourselves. Tarot is a powerful way of revealing the truth about our lives.” – Unknown

Tarot is a card reading practice that answers specific questions through a series of interpretations.

The Urban Dictionary defines the practice as: A kind of card or set of cards used in divination for finding insight on the past, present, and future.

In the 1500s, the Italians played a game called “tarocchi appropriati,” where random cards were dealt and the players would use the symbolism of the cards to write witty prose about each other. The name later became tarot and practice of it was not considered mystical until the 17th century when it became associated with the occult.

Most people who have seen images of tarot cards are familiar with the Rider-Waite deck, which was originally published around 1908-1909, written by publisher William Rider and mystic A.E. Waite. The Thoth deck was derived from the Book of Thoth, which was supposedly written by Thoth, the Egyptian god of writing and knowledge. It is said that once translated, this book contained two spells, one is the capability to understand the speech of animals and the other one was the ability to personally perceived the gods.

In 1938, a modern day guru, Aleister Crowley, started a five year project to create a new tarot deck based on the Book of Thoth. This deck combines tarot images with Astrology symbols. It wasn’t published until 1969. The Thoth deck is what we will using for examples in this post.

Back in January 2017, I came across an opportunity to take a 10-month course on how to read the tarot. I arrived at the location, which was a small herbal shop located on the coast of Northern California. I didn’t own a tarot deck, so I decided to purchase one right before the introduction orientation started. I went to this free introduction to see if this was something that might interest me more. At the time, I was more curious than anything.

Upon arrival, I approached the tarot deck section of the store, and immediately a deck caught my eye. It wasn’t my typical style of artwork, but I couldn’t stop myself from looking through the cards. I was drawn into them and felt mesmerized. I felt someone watching me, and slowly turned to my right. There was a beautiful woman with long, thick, silver hair who said to me, “Are they calling you?” I nodded my head, and she replied, “Then they must be yours. We are drawn for a reason.”

I assumed she worked for the herbal shop, but it was someone else who rang up my purchase. I sat in a chair, continuing to look at these cards that held me in a trance. The lady that rang me up announced that the orientation was about to begin and she proceeded to introduce the beautiful silver haired lady as Carolyn, the tarot teacher. Carolyn was also about to become my mentor and had an intense impact on my life, teaching me to interpret and read the tarot.

Carolyn spoke about tarot and gave us some exercises to do with the cards. One of these was to spread out the deck and when you felt a pull to one of the cards, choose it. I spread my hand over the deck and went over the deck a few times. I suddenly felt my palm get hot and itchy, so I picked that card. It was the Lovers card.

The very first thing I noticed was the contrasting colors of the dark and the light, the feminine and the masculine, the yin and the yang. I have been fascinated with opposing forces for most of my life. Subjects like the arts and the sciences held a deep interest for me, where I always associated the arts (feminine) and sciences (masculine) as One, feeling like the two must be combined to create a complete union of understanding.

And while I really liked that observation, it wasn’t what shocked me the most. It was the images of cupid, the lion and the eagle that took my breath away. It was me on a card! Sagittarius (cupid) is my sun sign, Leo (lion) is my moon sign and Scorpio (eagle or “phoenix”) is my rising sign. I sat there amazed and understood this was more than curiosity, I had now moved into the realm of being guided.

Gerd Ziegler wrote Tarot: Mirror of the Soul, a companion to the Thoth deck, and this is an excerpt of the tarot symbolism of the Lovers card.

“Gemini; union of opposites through Love…This card shows the marriage of the Emperor (masculine) and Empress (feminine). The ceremony is performed by the Hermit, one of the forms of the god of Mercury (rules Gemini)…The Lovers represent two opposites which yearn for and are attracted to one another…Every attempt at approach, union, connection, is an expression of the passionate urge to re-establish this lost Oneness. Every individual, every man and every woman, contains the duality of the male and female. They express themselves in different, often contradictory, personal characteristics”.

Now without going into details in this post as to why this interpretation is so important to me, let’s just say this was hugely related to a Twin Flame journey I had been on for years at this point. Three years prior to pulling this card that fateful night, I had met my Twin, who is a Gemini. We are opposing forces and yet exactly the same. My “soul mirror” (also notice again the name of the book), who “forced” the union of the yin and the yang, the female and the male, the dark and the light, within myself. We will describe deeper the Twin Flame journey on another post.

Now the astrological aspects representing myself was also described as: “There are three other symbols from the zodiac to be seen; Leo, Scorpio, Sagittarius. The lion (Leo) represents the male principle in nature, and indicates the creativity which may grow out of the union. The white eagle represents Scorpio, the scorpion in its transformed state. It mirrors the feminine component, the surrender to one’s own emotional depths. Cupid, as Sagittarius, shows the need for direct, honest interchange.”

Indications of this card: “Drawing this card may indicate a wonderful and exciting love relationship. Current relationships either deepen or end. New methods for personal growth and integration of your own opposing aspects present themselves as you turn toward and interact with a partner or group.”

Well, that was a hell of a lot to take in, but I signed up for the class anyway.

But if that wasn’t enough, about half way through my weekly course, I discovered each Astrological sign had a corresponding tarot card. And this is where things got really weird.

Sagittarius is associated with the Temperance card. In Thoth, its called the Art card.

The Temperance card in tarot is also known as The Alchemist. The Oracle’s Library defines this card as: “a harmonization [that] balances the masculine and feminine forces that materialize the actions and perceptions we carry with us down the road throughout our lives.”

The card that represents my Twin’s sun sign (Gemini) is the Lovers card, as two opposing forces about to become merged, while this card that represents my sun sign (Sagittarius) has the dark and the light merged as one, within. The lion is now white instead of red and the eagle is now red instead of white as shown in the Lovers card. The merging of fire and water into the cauldron is the complete and total unification of opposing elements. Gemini and Sagittarius are opposites in Astrology and create an axis on the zodiac wheel. I needed my Twin (Gemini) to be in opposition, in order for me (Sagittarius) to merge and become The Alchemist.

This is truth of my tarot.

Return for more on tarot where we explore the Major Arcana, the Minor Arcana and the Court cards.

Thank you for reading. xoxo