Tarot, the connection between Options

The Tarot experience.
I woke up one morning,five months ago, with only one thing in my head: I must buy Tarot cards, and so I did.
Since then, I feel that my tarot cards are an extension of me. They change their answer after my feelings about what I am asking them. Actually, they point out to the answer which I already know, but I'm not opening my eyes to the right direction so I need their help. It's kind of like God answering to the one looking for him: 'You wouldn't be looking for me if you wouldn't already have found me', (excuse my defectuous grammar). (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif)
Curious thing: if one card slips from the deck while I'm mixing them,and I get to see what it is, I'll surely pick that one.
I think I'm starting to love my cards.
I'll be really happy if some of you will share their Tarot experiences.

I use the Merlin tarot (surprise surprise) .... but have a number of other decks (Navigator Of The Mystic Sea; Kabbalah; Servants Of The Light are some examples) ... my affinity is with the Merlin tarot ...

I began by undertaking a visualisation/meditation on each of the tarot images in turn ... to get to know the individual card ... and to align their meanings with emotions and experiences of my own ....

I found it has helped to know the basic history/meaning of each card ... but it is not essential ...

The Merlin tarot are like personal friends to me ... and over the last 15 or so years of my relationship with them I have become to trust their insights and their advice ... I have many, many satisfied clients who my friends have helped through crisis in their lives ....

I am a firm believer you can read yourself ... I do a yearly forecast/insight for myself and the insights uncovered go a long way to provide acceptance and understanding of the roadway encountered as the year unfolds ...

I tend to use the Merlin tarot as a story telling aid ... which after all is one of the true uses of the tarot ... I will cast five, six maybe seven cards and then string together a story based on the friends who show themselves to me ... my own life can be the theme or it can be something different altogether ....

As an accomplished professional mystic I feel it is essential to get used to your tarot cards in this way ....

I will also put the Merlin Tarot to one side from time to time so as to let the cards 'rest' .... I will then use either the Servants Of The Light or The Navigator Of The Mystic Sea for professional readings .... or I may even give my client the choice of one of the decks for me to read from ....

Basically, I treat my tarot cards as friends and as extensions of my own self .... I find that I rarely have to call upon the 'set' or 'archetypal' meaning of the cards for inspiration ....

How I work is very much my own inimitible way ... a way that works very well for my form of magic .... but may not work for others .... what I advise is that you get to know your chosen deck of cards, play with them, use them to write short stories or works of phrose ... do everything you can to familiarise yourself with what the cards are trying to say ...

Let your own instinct determine the spread you use .... and be dynamic with your interpretation ... be aware of even the tiniest detail in the card .... learn to clear your mind of all the day to day drivel before you use the cards .... develop a recognition of what are your own thoughts and what are your own aches and pains ....

But most of all ... enjoy using the deck ... relax ... and unwind .... nervousness will keep the door firmly shut on the higher levels of awareness ... the tarot works best when you are relaxed and receptive ....

I have developed my own ways of interpretation ...

You can too as there are no set rules with the tarot ...

I underwent a theory and development class in the early days to learn the tarot ... Eileen Connolly ( I think that's her name) as a really good book on tarot meanings ... so I could learn the basics ... but that is as far as it went for me .... I use the Tree Of Life as a basis for my meditation work and often link the tarot cards I pull for myself on a fairly regular basis with where I am currently on the tree ....

I will often determine the anticipated outcome of an important event by the three cards I pull the night before .... but it is not the cards which are telling me the answer ... it is myself ... the tarot are but a focus for the higher mind to write its script on the manifest plane ....

Good luck ... be open minded and formulate your own rules regarding your relationship with the tarot ....

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