how to use the tarot to map out the journey as your soul.

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 12 Dec 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

HOLMES	12 Dec 2003
i was in the shower , thinking of the past lives i knew about and how they could relate to the tarot ,and that i was in the world phrase and what did that mean ? then all the sudden eureka. my lives so far, this one is the world i am missing life as the sun and life as the judgement card. my life as a nun as a faith healer , the star, the life as a psychic prostitute in old england the moon. the life as a witch hunter , the tower, the life as a black magican, the devil. and how to do it is to find out where your life is at this time (numerology is an a good way that i know others may have a differnce way ) on the major arcana. and try to map out the past lives you know on the tarot , then take the one card before where you are at presently (if you don't have it yet) and mediate on the card asking for guidance who you were in that past live time. be sure to mention the time for your consciousness mind can accept it (example if you know you lived in two cards before from the 20s to the 60s, that is a good one, but suppose you were born in the 70s and lived until the 60s? that card before that wans't known means you lived as a child and died as a child. but shared in such a way that the card energies came through ) oh and if you had a hard time knowing any past life , find out where you know , example if you are 17 ,, you are not at the 8 card levle with the 17 as the shadow. but you are at the 17 really. and be open to your dreams for after you did this for a few days you would have a dream.. and if you want to learn more stick with the card and say show me more. give it a try . :O)

Major Tom	12 Dec 2003
Holmes - I think I know what you're talking about. ;) The problem I have with past lives is that they impact you now. Isn't the present moment more important? I was attracted to this thread by it's title "How to Use the Tarot to Map Out the Journey as Your Soul". You do realise you can make conscious choices as to which card's energy you need at this moment? One of the most effective ways I've found to bring a card's energy into my life is to create a version of that card. ;)

Star Spirit	12 Dec 2003
That's a very interesting concept Holmes....haha...odd, but interesting. Maybe I'm just laughing because you thought it up in the shower. I also have epiphanies in the shower....

HOLMES	30 Jan 2004
eheh i had it in mind to reply to this thread but i wanted to be sure of what i wanted to say , i believe the present is important but not more important then the past lives or the futures lives the past dictates the present , the present dictates the future, and the future will be hunted by the past and comes full circle. the conscious choices is in the moment, but how we wil react in the moment or the tests to come is how we know our cycles of being, our beliefs and our lessons that still stick with us. i think that it is possible to see it more ,, the birthdate gives us the event that will dictate our lives, (the ten day decantes ) the court card gives us the personality element to work on (and also the next two events that minorly affect us based on the birthdate card). the sun card will help us understand ourselves overall. yet,, wouldn't that be the same as saying "all people born on that day will have say the nine of pentacles as an event card. , the hermit card as a sun card, and the knight of disks for a person card. " but that not true as we well know, hence we have to take in the ascendentant for example, the planets in signs that make up more event cards for a person birth chart. and then there is the name itself combined with the birthdate that makes everyone karmic and past lives issues and cycles unique . so the hints are there but the greater overall pattern emerges. i got an idea.. the time of death may hint to where we go next ?

miss_apples	30 Jan 2004
Ok...Im trying to figure this out. Im currently The Chariot...so my previous life should be lovers according to your system if I am following it right (which I think is really cool) However I know that in my past life I died as an old maid in England....does that mean my past live was the lovers card reversed?

firemaiden	30 Jan 2004
Hey Holmes you always have such intriguing ideas. Irreverant question though (well, you won't be surprised)... how do you know the images you are getting have to do with past lives, and are not just ideas in your imagination? (And how does the tarot help with accessing these images?) I like the idea of mapping out the soul's present journey with tarot cards. ;)

HOLMES	30 Jan 2004
they came like what is the word , ephinies ? though not in the shower. the prostitue life was in old england where me and some others know each other, i had the gift but used it to survive (reading for powerpeople ) . themy life as a nun as a faith healer , the star, the life as a psychic prostitute in old england the moon. the life as a witch hunter , the tower, the life as a black magican, the devil. my life life as a faith healer nun in the mountains came i think after or before the witch hunter. when i was a witch hunter i had a big white beard and preacher hat on. i was a priest on horseback. the black magican came when i was reading the life of lon milo don quette. i was sitting there and asking myself i wonder if i did magic in a past life for lots of the stories he told felt like a part of me, and the sort of ephany thougth came to mind about it , that was the one with hardly any detail. i had dream about the prostitue before i became one when my dad sold me into marriage, i was acosted by some local boys and i had to run into the libary or place to avoid them either just as i became one or before. regarding how do we know it is past lives, there is parral lives even , that is where your soul aspect is living in nigeria doing a differnt aspect of the let say heirophant . perhaps he is over there being a heiropheiant while you are here rebelling against the hierophant. see if time doenst' really exist and space, it would in theory to be living all the future , past, parral lives together . and the illusions is for all of us to awake but that is a course in miracles teachings about illusions and awaking. please refer to this , http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13291&highlight=HOLMES in it one uses numerology and the laying out of the 22 major arcana in the fool journey positon. with astrology especialy where it peretains to karma , one can combined the numerolgy, astrolgy to see where one is one the qabbalah tree of life and hint at where you may go next. (example if you are heading towards the material world, closer to the source, or outwards into the universe)

maya	30 Jan 2004
Quote: i believe the present is important but not more important then the past lives or the futures lives. the past dictates the present , the present dictates the future, and the future will be hunted by the past and comes full circle. Dear Holmes, this is eerie. I appreciate your way of exploring. You said you were in the shower and then this popped out. This may sound challenging to you, but, are you sincerely interested in finding out who you are? Or are you entertaining yourself? [font=times] [font=times][/font] [font=times][/font][font=times][/font] [font=times]

ncefafn	30 Jan 2004
Every past life I can remember ended quite badly, so I prefer enjoying the present one. Besides, the system of going backwards with the cards for the life purpose assumes that time is linear, and we know nothing of the sort. Finally, there is no way that something that may have happened in a prior or other life is more important than what's going on here and now. The past is a closed book, the present is a book not yet finished. I recommend putting away your theories, no matter how entertaining they are, and focusing on the here and now. For all you know, this may be your last go-round. With best intentions, Kim

Dark_angel	30 Jan 2004
Although it's important to enjoy where you are, it's also important to know where you're coming from. I thought your theory about all times existing simultaneously is fascinating. I've never learned of any of my past lives, if I have had any. What's it like to know that you have lived before?

firemaiden	31 Jan 2004
What amuses me, is when we imagine our past lives, we always have some fanciful adventure and drama-filled life, usually ending in murder. No one says : my life plowing fields with horses, my life tending sheep, my life as a factory worker, my life as a serving girl, my life changing diapers, my life of unending work and montonous drudgery... Whereas, if you look at history, in all likelihood, there is a 90% chance we were all some sort of peasant...

jmd	31 Jan 2004
Many of us have numerous memories of certain events which occurred to us as young adults (I'm just referring to this lifetime). The intensity of the memory is partly dependent on either correlate intensity of emotion, or, even more, of a scene which somehow became clearly recollected. As we have memories of our adolescence, or even or late childhood, the memories take different shades, and to clearly recollect, as opposed to embodying our recollections with what we know, becomes more difficult. I have a memory of being very young (about five years old), and my first tooth loosening, and in fact dropping (quite young for a tooth-loss) whilst drinking chocolate. The quality of the image is semi-dream like, yet also quite clear. I have often wondered if I have not combined various memories together in my imagination - yet, it has a particular kind of quality which makes it genuine. For many of us - I would in fact say for all of us - there are snippets of past lives which emerge and are reflected in consciousness. To recognise them (accurately) as such, to differentiate them for active fantasy, and to enter them and further experience snippets of a former life, is certainly worthwhile. If, however, a person was spending an inordinate amount of time to relive, in imagination, their early life between, as an example, the ages of 3 and 6, we would generally discourage it. For some of us, however, it may be not only useful, but somewhat also fruitful and healing (I can think of various traumatic experiences which have had repercussions which, for some, by taking the time to re-enter may assist acceptance and healing). With past lives, there may be various reasons and conditions for their fruitful recall - as well as wasted energy and misdirected focus. Where it becomes fruitful may even be not so much for the individual concerned, but even, possibly, as a sacrifice a person makes in this life to bring to consciousness the very existence of the spiritual, thereby, possibly, assisting in the healing qualities of a shift in perception. Others may bring to light certain patterns within their own life and thereby transform themselves. Others yet may come to see things in an entirely different perspective, and assist in one group being able to forgive another (as I heard a Rabbi once say that the holocaust, though of Jews in the genetic sense, consisted of predominantly those who had been involved in Roman and Mediaeval atrocities against Jews in former times - I'm not saying I accept this, by the way). As to the Tarot, is it correct to link one particular card to reflect one's life? Perhaps it is - but then two other questions emerge: is it determined numerologically? and do former sequential lives reflect in some ways sequential cards? Of the former, I personally do not think that one's life card is numerologically determined by dates with regards to either one's birth or other dating principle (reaching of the age of 21, dating using a Hebrew calendar, from one's death date, etc). I realise that there are a number of threads on the issue, and that many have really gotten into that aspect - and that I may change my views on the matter with further time to deepen my understanding - but tend to think that if one was going to use any personal attributes, then, at least using one's name would be more apt. In Holmes's opening post, an even more effective means of relating one's overall lifetime impulse to a single card seems to be used: an intuitive grasp of the life in question with an understanding of specific qualities inherent in individual cards. Whether or not one has clear past life experiences, to grasp what may constitute a life-impulse as depicted in the Empress, for example, or the Star, or the World, or the Hanged Man, certainly adds to not only an understanding of the cards, but may even assist us in determining - choosing, in conscious free will - what we will in this life... Thank you for the thread and those wonderful reflections :)

firemaiden	31 Jan 2004
Quote: Originally posted by jmd (as I heard a Rabbi once say that the holocaust, though of Jews in the genetic sense, consisted of predominantly those who had been involved in Roman and Mediaeval atrocities against Jews in former times - I'm not saying I accept this, by the way). jmd, I find it deeply upsetting that a Rabbi could entertain such a notion, much less utter it...

jmd	31 Jan 2004
Please read it in the context... the events in question are not only extremely upsetting, but have so many sensitive aspects that it would indeed be so easy for us to allow the thread to meander to those areas. What I found astounding at the time was more the shift towards possible forgiveness that this somehow seemed to permit - that was simply the point I wanted to focus on in the context of the thread.

skytwig	31 Jan 2004
I suspect that our past lives show up in our interests and talents.... I don't think there are things such as child prodigies.... those children obviously did it before...... So if we have skills and talents, we probably learned them in other lives.... If we have interests, more than likely, we were somehow involved in them in another life.... I also think many collectors are looking for something from a past life..... Clues are everywhere! ;) They are not so much in our imaginings as in our present activities and interests.......

miss_apples	01 Feb 2004
Quote: Originally posted by firemaiden What amuses me, is when we imagine our past lives, we always have some fanciful adventure and drama-filled life, usually ending in murder. No one says : my life plowing fields with horses, my life tending sheep, my life as a factory worker, my life as a serving girl, my life changing diapers, my life of unending work and montonous drudgery... Whereas, if you look at history, in all likelihood, there is a 90% chance we were all some sort of peasant... Personally I think in my last life I was a poor working class old maid in the early 1900's which is about the same as being a peasant. I agree with JMD...I dont think we can figure out our past lives with numerology...although I think HOLMES had an interesting idea...but I just dont think that our lifetimes are set up that way.

Diana	01 Feb 2004
Quote: Originally posted by firemaiden What amuses me, is when we imagine our past lives, we always have some fanciful adventure and drama-filled life, usually ending in murder. No one says : my life plowing fields with horses, my life tending sheep, my life as a factory worker, my life as a serving girl, my life changing diapers, my life of unending work and montonous drudgery... Whereas, if you look at history, in all likelihood, there is a 90% chance we were all some sort of peasant... That's because ordinary, happy lives don't traumatise us, firemaiden. It is normal to be traumatised by a vicious murder, a death during war-time, things like that. So these memories come back to "haunt" us. You know, sometimes we DO have pretty "normal" "happy" and "peaceful" lives. It gives us a break from the ones where we need to learn big lessons. If I didn't have some idea of the traumatisms in my past lives, it would be harder to move on from them in this life. Knowing where some of my deepest fears and anguish stem from, helps me find ways to solve them. By the way: whether they are past lives or collective consciousness, makes absolutely no difference. These are memories imprinted in the Consciousness of the Universe, and if we are tapping into them, then there is a reason. Whether it is to heal ourselves or to heal the world is, in the end, one and the same thing.

firemaiden	01 Feb 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Diana By the way: whether they are past lives or collective consciousness, makes absolutely no difference. These are memories imprinted in the Consciousness of the Universe, and if we are tapping into them, then there is a reason. Whether it is to heal ourselves or to heal the world is, in the end, one and the same thing. When you talk, Diana, everything makes sense. :)

The how to use the tarot to map out the journey as your soul. thread was originally posted on 12 Dec 2003 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.