jmd
In the thread Teaching children about tarot, thinbuddha & Phoenix Rising (posts 30 and 31) pick up a comment made in an earlier post (N°15) by Mystewood that in essence suggests that encouraging, or teaching, others to open up to using Tarot needs to be concomitantly enouraged, or taught, to developing and applying psychic protection.
The questions are legitimately placed as to what one is opening to that requires such protection, and whether it is in any manner needed.
Part of the answer will to a large extent depend on how one sees what tarot is and what takes place during readings.
Personally, I'm all for creating sacred spaces in which one is more attentive to subtleties one may not otherwise pay much attention to, and a closure of that same space or state as one 'returns' to everyday mundane awareness.
By creating special conditions, it also suggests that one is allowing a freer reign of certain insights, metaphors, and symbolic association.
The formal return to 'normal' consciousness also signals that certain states have their own special stature.
I would suggest that much has been written about preparing oneself in terms of spiritual 'protection', from the visualisation of bluish-white light descending from above, passing through us and grounding to the Earth's centre, to quite formal and what may appear complicated ritualistic preparations with invocations and prayers - Mouni Sadhu's suggestions, in Theurgy, come to mind as amongst the more extreme suggestions.
This raises various questions, the first of which is whether or not such is either necessary or beneficial.
I would suggest that for a child, the simple act of narrative development by activating the imaginative facutly given sequences of imagery certainly does not require such.
By contrast, I would suggest that for the adult who places him or herself in a special non-ordinary state of lucid imagination, a preparation and closure is of benefit: it prevents one, on the one hand, being carried by flights of fancy; and on the other provides a structural framework by which to efficiently pass through the threshold between everyday and divinatory consciousness.
This latter ('divinatory' consciousness) is of course not necessarily what one intends when reading the cards. After all, divination is often neither intent, nor practice. Still, I would suggest that often subtleties arise that makes one both more open, and hence more susceptible, to subtle influences from others and the world around us. The protection one draws also serves to maintain a clarity and 'cleanliness'.
I am sure I have raised more issues and concerns than I intended... so it could make for either an interesting thread, or a post that will quickly sink...
The questions are legitimately placed as to what one is opening to that requires such protection, and whether it is in any manner needed.
Part of the answer will to a large extent depend on how one sees what tarot is and what takes place during readings.
Personally, I'm all for creating sacred spaces in which one is more attentive to subtleties one may not otherwise pay much attention to, and a closure of that same space or state as one 'returns' to everyday mundane awareness.
By creating special conditions, it also suggests that one is allowing a freer reign of certain insights, metaphors, and symbolic association.
The formal return to 'normal' consciousness also signals that certain states have their own special stature.
I would suggest that much has been written about preparing oneself in terms of spiritual 'protection', from the visualisation of bluish-white light descending from above, passing through us and grounding to the Earth's centre, to quite formal and what may appear complicated ritualistic preparations with invocations and prayers - Mouni Sadhu's suggestions, in Theurgy, come to mind as amongst the more extreme suggestions.
This raises various questions, the first of which is whether or not such is either necessary or beneficial.
I would suggest that for a child, the simple act of narrative development by activating the imaginative facutly given sequences of imagery certainly does not require such.
By contrast, I would suggest that for the adult who places him or herself in a special non-ordinary state of lucid imagination, a preparation and closure is of benefit: it prevents one, on the one hand, being carried by flights of fancy; and on the other provides a structural framework by which to efficiently pass through the threshold between everyday and divinatory consciousness.
This latter ('divinatory' consciousness) is of course not necessarily what one intends when reading the cards. After all, divination is often neither intent, nor practice. Still, I would suggest that often subtleties arise that makes one both more open, and hence more susceptible, to subtle influences from others and the world around us. The protection one draws also serves to maintain a clarity and 'cleanliness'.
I am sure I have raised more issues and concerns than I intended... so it could make for either an interesting thread, or a post that will quickly sink...