What IS the Tarot PATH????

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 05 Aug 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

M-Press	05 Aug 2003
Hi! I'm opening this discussion thanks to an inspiration given to me from another member here, who helps me use effectively this forum...(I'm kinda new...) here is anothetr link :has Tarot changed you", that seems very close to my question, but also different... A litl' background: These days I'm working on a tarot deck, a tarot symbolism paper, a tarot journal on my deck, reading techniques, and trying to do it online too! I have mixed my artistic creativity, my career, my academic pursues, my hobbies, my business, all in one... I don't see how I would have done that if not due to the Tarot.. i wasn't born with this....It's NOT a part of my family's lessons, and I'm not a psychic in anyway... BUT I grew intoit, slowly, slowly, for years... Now I look back, and i feel it was meant to be. Me taking this path. Being ablle to experience life on an additional-EXTRA- level... So I'm trying to ask? - What IS this path? - Is there any other path as significant, or compareable. (all spiritual paths have somethings in common), but still...the Tarot is different... - Is this path different for the author, the artist or the reader, the historian? is it just different mediums? It must be the moon in Scorp tonight... everything feels so intense! ;-)

Shoshin	05 Aug 2003
Wow, Those are some pretty deep questions! I like to use the allegory of climbing a mountain to tackle this. The goal is to reach the top of the mountain. Whatever that may mean to you. Enlightenment, realizing your higher self, whatever. Like all mountains climbs there are the trailblazers. Lao-tzu, Jesus, Buddha, just to name a few of the earliest and most famous. I could go on and on but you get the idea. They get up the mountain, sometimes making it to the top, look back and say, "Hey the view from up here is great!" follow my path and you can get up here too. As you can imagine there are many, many paths. All of them are different. Some may be more difficult and suitable for the hearty and well trained. Others may be more leisurely and casual. It may take a little longer but it's a pleasant ascent so you won't mind. Someone, or some group, discovered that using the Tarot offered another way up if you chose to use it as such. I think in general it a nice leisurely path. Many of these paths will converge as they near the top. It makes sense because as you near the summit there is less room for all those paths. This is why you can include so many things into Tarot. Astrology is just one example. I really don't know if I answered your questions, but I hope maybe it helps a little. One could write a book on just such questions and I believe many have!

dadsnook2000	05 Aug 2003
Shoshin, I feel tha your reply was as good as any could be. Life in most of its expressions can provide the start up a path. The commitment to seek, to be open, to experience all aspects of the path taken leads to growth -- and to the awareness that its the journey, not the destination, that provides the learning. Dave.

jog1118	06 Aug 2003
ever since i started out with tarot, the fool's journey (or bateleur's journey or whatever you call it...you can check the sticky in using the tarot forum) has been very significant to me in my study. in whatever order you see it, the major arcana represents a stage in your life (i.e. i may be a chariot with my tarot studies in the sense that i've memorized the minutest details of cards/spreads but i lack the intuition, symbolized by the h. priestess or the moon, to use it well) you get my point? (i hope you did) :smoker:

jmd	06 Aug 2003
In some ways, each of us makes our own individual paths towards that common summit mentioned by Shoshin - and yet by sharing the Tarot, we also share in some ways common sign-posts, and hence may even walk along regions shared with others. One's path becomes marked with the common spiritual striving of humanity. When asking what is the path, I am also reminded of the opening of the Tao Te Ching: 'the path that can be talked about is not the path'. _____ Are there other systems or markers along the road with comparable spiritual indicators as the Tarot? In my personal experience - which obviously also reflects my interests - some of the other areas in which markers are clearly encountered include: that so important diagramme (which is more than a diagramme) of the Kabalistic Tree of Life; the various signposts given in initiatic societies (such as the SRIA, Freemasonry, &c.); the developing tasks of Perceval (Parzival); and of course the positive and highly developed aspects of rythmic sacramental life in, for example, the Liberal Catholic church or the Christian Community. _____ With regards to the third question, the path experienced is, in my opinion, bound to be experienced differently according to one's interests and engagements - so the historian, the artist, the author, the medium, and the myriad other categories into which humanity may seek to classify the differences amongst individuals to assist understanding will each experience their unique path with some measure of similarity to others according to how much their uniqueness meets others in commonality. (now breathe :)) _____ The questions asked are so important to not only Tarot, but life...

augursWell	07 Aug 2003
I've looked at, studied, learned a number of different "spiritual" teachings/faiths/belief systems over the years always trying to find the answers that present themselves at each stage of my life. Resolving one question leads me to yet others. There are truths to be found in all of them, as well as falsehoods. With tarot, at least for me, the common thread has always been the image and symbol. I have always been a visual person, seeing the world the way an Artist does. Many spiritual disciplines have their symbology -- from the Kabbalistic tree of life to the spinning "tear drops" of the Tao. But it seems to me that only the Tarot, at least in its modern form(post Golden Dawn) attempts to incorporate everything in a mostly "symbolic" system, meaning the use of imagery. To me that is the uniqueness of Tarot and its unique path. :TSTAR

M-Press	07 Aug 2003
Thank you all for your thoughtful and thought-provoking responses... :-) i do agree that these kind of questions, are not there for the sake of answering them, but as a tool for further exploration... Yes, it is the path ,the journey and not the destination that count... After I posted the question, i asked myself: If the Tarot person was to be represented by one card, which card would that be? Thanks jog, I think "The Fool" must be the one... I know that when I started with the tarot, I definitely had no idea where it will get me!!! Then,I'm trying to see, whether the Tarot path, is any different than someone's commitment to a life of a doctor or an actor? Everybody has a path in life, right? And isn't everybody the Fool???? Still, i think there is something more to the tarot, that i can not put my finger on... Yes, the journey is the important one, but I'm interested especially since I'm trying to create something that is meant to attract and appeal to more people than those who know it (and not for marketing reasons).... Recently I took a graduate course on "Creativity". We discussed the different points of view on creativity, and we found no one answer... My personal conclusion was, that yes, everybody has the potential of being creative, but yet, some are more creative than others...and this is a nature, and not nurture issue. So, to me, those that are concerned with "creativity", are those that are already creative! Well, you know where I take this regarding the Tarot... Is there a way to use the tarot, to invite more people to its path? besides those that naturally head there? If I can even make such a statement... :-0 Is what is it we have in common (in aeclectic), besides a "common interest" (which can be also football or stamps)????? Is there something? Please pardon my "questioning" questions, it's just that I'm still intensely thrilled to have discovered this forum... The Tarot path is not an easy one (at least for the artist!), and yet so many are committed... ;-)

The What IS the Tarot PATH???? thread was originally posted on 05 Aug 2003 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.