Weird Occurences

[epvitale]

I received the Gilded Tarot for Hannukah and have been working with it and the "how to" book that came with it for about a week. I have noticed on those evenings where I work with the deck and book intensively my sleep is very light (I usually can sleep through an eartquake) and I wake feeling as if I haven't slept a wink.

Yesterday I had a weird "dream" experience. I awoke from a deep sleep at 3:30 am. This was around 4 hours sleep. I found myself in that wonderful waking dream state. You know the one. You're not quite awake, but not asleep. Your subconscious is still kicking in high gear as images and sound float across your mind, but you are aware and cognizant and realize that you can control these moments.

Well during this moment my mind flittered to Tarot. Almost imediately whatever images were in my head were replaced with a Tarot deck fanned out in front of me and floating in the air. The first few cards on the right side of the fan (my left the deck's right) were golden yellow in color, the rest of the deck was dark.

I thought of one of the cards I had been studying earlier in the evening, the Three of Wands, and it slid out of the golden yellow section. It slid out and stood upright before my mind's eye. I could clearly see the artwork. The man, regally dressed, standing, two wands flank behind him. He is looking out at a ship on the water while three gulls flew over the water. I knew the meaning of the card and it sounded in my mind's ear, "Initial goals accomplished. Still looking towards a bright future. More work to do. Waiting for your ship to come in."

I didn't know what to make of this waking dreaming vision. I thought of another card I studied, Five of Wands and the same thing happened. I saw the card and heard the meaning. Then I thought of a card I haven't studied yet. The Seven of Swords. This card slid out and appeared upright to me like the wands but was still dark. I could see any images on the card.

I went back and forth between cards I studied and cards I did not. Always the cards I studied came from the golden yellow section of the fan and I could see the artwork intricately and knew the meanings intimately.

And always the cards I have not yet studied showed to me as dark.

I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience while studying a deck or could shine some light on this phenomena.

Thank you -


Gary

 

[rwcarter]

epvitale,

I haven't had that experience, but the light sleeping part doesn't surprise me. Sounds like you aren't shutting off or debriefing your mind before going to sleep. You mentioned that intensive work = light sleep. Have you noticed any correlations with sleep with you don't work as intensively with the deck?

Sounds to me like your waking dream was a check-in/validation of your progress.

Initial goals accomplished. Still looking towards a bright future. More work to do. Waiting for your ship to come in.

To me it's rather telling that the first card you thought of gave you the info above. You've made some initial progress with the deck, and your future with it looks bright, but you still have more work to do. That's evidenced by the fact that when you thought of a card you hadn't intensively studied yet, nothing came to you.

All in all, I think the dream was a good sign. Also, you need to find a way to decompress after your bouts of intensive study before going to bed.

HTH,
Rodney

 

[epvitale]

epvitale,

I haven't had that experience, but the light sleeping part doesn't surprise me. Sounds like you aren't shutting off or debriefing your mind before going to sleep. You mentioned that intensive work = light sleep. Have you noticed any correlations with sleep with you don't work as intensively with the deck?

HTH,
Rodney

That makes sense. I start studies when I get home after I ate dinner and relaxed a bit, usually around 9pm. I then work with cards and study guides until bedtime (anywhere between 10 and 11:30). Yesterday, was one of those days I was plugging away and lost track of time. I look up and went Uh-oh. I quickly packed up my materials, ran upstairs and into bed.

When I have time to decompress. Thirty minutes or more of boob tube time or just stretched out on the couch playing with the 'mules. I have a more "dead" sleep and wake refreshed.

Thanks for your quick response.

Gary

 

[epvitale]

Sounds to me like your waking dream was a check-in/validation of your progress.

To me it's rather telling that the first card you thought of gave you the info above. You've made some initial progress with the deck, and your future with it looks bright, but you still have more work to do. That's evidenced by the fact that when you thought of a card you hadn't intensively studied yet, nothing came to you.

LOL!! Progress is one way to look at it. Check out the interview spread I did with it:

link to personal blog removed by moderator - please use the 'website' button below this post

 

[Deacon76]

Hi Gary!

Wow, pretty intense experience there. I haven't had one quite like that, but I do dream very vividly, and tarot shows up a lot in my dreams. I kind of have the opposite problem as you: I'm a chronically light sleeper. Coupled with early mornings and long commutes, I rarely get a full night's rest. I do find that practicing Reiki helps. I don't know if that is something that is up your alley or not; but for me, even a quickie 10 or 15 minute session works wonders.

I will read for myself before I turn in, but I usually keep the reading light - no more than three cards - and sometimes I don't even bother with interpretations. I just look at the cards. This also helps me slowly wind down from the day. I briefly read through your interview with your Gilded Deck. Given how intense of a deck it seems to be for you, maybe doing a quick "wind-down" spread with your RWS will help you decompress while still keeping connected to your cards.

Just my thoughts. Good luck and happy dreaming!

Blessings,
Deacon

 

[epvitale]

I will read for myself before I turn in, but I usually keep the reading light - no more than three cards - and sometimes I don't even bother with interpretations. I just look at the cards. This also helps me slowly wind down from the day. I briefly read through your interview with your Gilded Deck. Given how intense of a deck it seems to be for you, maybe doing a quick "wind-down" spread with your RWS will help you decompress while still keeping connected to your cards.

Just my thoughts. Good luck and happy dreaming!

Blessings,
Deacon

Thank you for your suggestions. I will try a simple three card with RWS to wind down. As for reiki, I am not that familiar with it. It is a breathing exercise, right?

Gary

 

[PAMUYA]

Wow Gary, cool dream. A while back I had a dream of peeking behind the curtain of the High Preistess (RWS deck). I too had been working on the cards before I went to bed. Keep a dream journal, I have learned a lot from my dreams.

Let us know of any other dreams

 

[Deacon76]

Thank you for your suggestions. I will try a simple three card with RWS to wind down. As for reiki, I am not that familiar with it. It is a breathing exercise, right?

Gary

Reiki is a form of energy healing, basically used to bring yourself into balance on a physical, emotional and spiritual level. If nothing else, I've found that - when I do it before bed - it puts me in a state of deep relaxation, which then leads to a better night's sleep.

I don't want to go off on too much of a tangent from the original post, so if you would like more info on Reiki feel free to PM me. In the meantime, I hope your dreams and visions continue to inspire! They can be great learning tools.

Cheers!
Deacon

 

[FearfulSymmetry]

Hi Gary,
I have a similar kind of experience all the time. What I think it is is your subconscious working out the task you have set it to which is learning the cards. I think it is probably doing that sort of thing all the time but you were lucky enough to catch it at that state where you were able to become aware of it.

 

[epvitale]

Thank you to you all. I have taken a conscious effort to leave myself at least a half hour of relaxing before bed. I lie in bed and perform meditative breathing exercises. This seems to help and I am still retaining what I am learning about the cards and my "take" on them.

As for other dreams, there was one last night with Joey Ramone, but that's another story ...



Gary