Tarot for Ancestor Work

Samweiss

Yes, any sort of tool used for divining can/will begin to help you develop other abilities too, I think. I am also of the thought that everyone has these abilities-to one degree or another, and if you are keen on it--you can develop them and fine tune them to be even stronger. All it takes is patience, desire and practice.

I think so too. I started testing my abilities recently and was pretty surprised by the results. Still can't use them constructive way in a reading, so gonna have to practise more.

Yes, I find that interesting too, that you have a King and Queen of Pentacles ina trio--same suit and both courts. It could very well be indicating a marriage between these two and the 9 of wands between them seems to be pointing to some feeling of 'there is still hope'.

If you did hear in your mind "continuation of family name", I would strongly keep this in mind too. Can you see where this fits in your own family? Is there a 'male' heir after you? And, remember too--that your spouses family are now yours as well--so if you're a female and married to a male, that his ancestors can be coming through in these readings.

I have often had my husbands ancestors come through to me in both dreams and readings done for me. One of his great, great grandmothers came in a reading once saying she was wanting to help me in my spiritual pursuits. I was a bit shocked by that--but realizing she was at the time a great advisor for me! Still is, though I'm not sure she is still with me.

Do share more, too, as you do it.

Interesting, thank you. :) I'm young male and single, so the topic of reading isn't hugely relevant right now. :) Don't really know who else the couple could be, though.

I also did reading today with the question "what message my ancestors have for me" and got Queen Wands as an answer, and Page of Cups was one of the cards aspecting it. Which is weird because those two cards always follow me around when I'm doing readings about spiritual subjects. Strange.

I've noticed that I get a lot of court cards during these ancestor readings. Is this happening to anyone else?
 

conurelover

I think so too. I started testing my abilities recently and was pretty surprised by the results. Still can't use them constructive way in a reading, so gonna have to practise more.



Interesting, thank you. :) I'm young male and single, so the topic of reading isn't hugely relevant right now. :) Don't really know who else the couple could be, though.

I also did reading today with the question "what message my ancestors have for me" and got Queen Wands as an answer, and Page of Cups was one of the cards aspecting it. Which is weird because those two cards always follow me around when I'm doing readings about spiritual subjects. Strange.

I've noticed that I get a lot of court cards during these ancestor readings. Is this happening to anyone else?

Knight of Cups three times in a row in different positions.
 

Chrystella

I also did a reading with the same question and got the same answer as you. I didn't do it the exact same way as you did, just did a straight up 3-card reading.

So the answer was: King of Pentacles, aspected by 9 of Wands and Queen of Pentacles. I think there's a strong focus on marriage and family affairs. Also, the words "continuation of family name" popped in my head. Interesting that there's both King and Queen of the same suite present.

I like the idea of a three-card reading around a specific question to gain more insight. I think marriage and family affairs will come up a lot in ancestral work. Not only are these important areas of our lives, and more so in bygone days, the work, by nature, is familial. I think "continuation of family name" is very important to this work because a big part of it keeping their memories alive.

Okay--do you have any known ancestors who were priests or in any other type of high spiritual position? At least that you know of, through family stories/records? I could also see it as indicating a high position such as President of a corporation or even a huge club--like the Masons--or something else. Or, as you mention--a happy union/marriage that was also very blessed and rewarding.

I don't know. I know about my ancestors in a very broad way, as groups of people, but almost nothing about them as individuals. Thanks for your insight. A high position of an organisation is definitely a possibility.

If you did hear in your mind "continuation of family name", I would strongly keep this in mind too. Can you see where this fits in your own family? Is there a 'male' heir after you? And, remember too--that your spouses family are now yours as well--so if you're a female and married to a male, that his ancestors can be coming through in these readings.

This was in response to Samweiss and I totally agree! I believe that ancestors want to be part of our lives and they will go to the family member that listens even if that person is not part of the blood family.

I'm associating the court cards with actual individuals. Depending on the type of reading or question, if you've never done this kind of work before, when you start, they all want to rush in. That might explain the appearance of so many court cards.
 

celticnoodle

I think so too. I started testing my abilities recently and was pretty surprised by the results. Still can't use them constructive way in a reading, so gonna have to practise more.
I can recommend an EXCELLENT book to help you use tarot in readings and in a more psychic way. It was written by Nancy Antenucci and Melanie Howard, both of whom are members here, but I can't recall their A.T. names and not sure they are here often. Anyway, the book is GREAT! and IMHO should be on everyone's bookshelf that is interested in tarot reading and developing their abilities. It is titled "Psychic Tarot, using your natural psychic abilities to read the cards". Very reasonably priced too and easy to read/understand with some wonderful exercises in there to develop your other abilities, with the cards. You can use these ideas with any deck--tarot or oracle and I've also changed them a bit to use in some psychic-medium circles I use to manage years ago. Check it out.

I also did reading today with the question "what message my ancestors have for me" and got Queen Wands as an answer, and Page of Cups was one of the cards aspecting it. Which is weird because those two cards always follow me around when I'm doing readings about spiritual subjects. Strange.

I've noticed that I get a lot of court cards during these ancestor readings. Is this happening to anyone else?
Very interesting. I wonder if YOU are the page of cups here? showing it as someone who is just beginning to develop their intuitive abilities? The Queen of Wands can be an ancestor of yours who is helping you with this, perhaps. This queen is often described as a practical person, earthy, and helpful in life. She can be someone you knew in life, or someone generations ago before you were even thought of. :)
 

celticnoodle

Okay, this is my Ancestor Tarot draws. I shuffled the cards well and am only doing the first line today.
Day 1: Draw one card from the major arcana and one from the court cards only, a card to represent the ancestor.

So, my two cards are: The Hermit and The Knight of Swords. So these two cards should represent an ancestor to me. The hermit could represent a number of things--someone who was in the priesthood/nunnery (I do have cousins like this from my maternal side), or just a person who lived alone and stayed very much to themselves. (had a few of these on both sides). Perhaps someone who was a wise person and could be a good advisor for me? I'm using the Robin Wood deck, and this Hermit is holding a lantern that is lighting up the area around him--so perhaps someone who can shed some light on things for me. The Knight of Swords in this deck is riding on a white winged horse, at a great swift gallop/flying in the air. His sword is drawn high, ready to strike! I always see this knight as someone who means well, but tends to act first and think later. Someone though who does have a good head on their shoulders over all, and isn't afraid to jump into situations that could be difficult.

So, right off the bat, it DOES sound a bit like my maternal aunt, who is in spirit. She did also come through in my recent psychic-card reading I had done for me by a woman. (This aunt ALWAYS comes through for me). Though she didn't come in as strong as usual in the reading, I can see these 2 cards as representing herself. So, could be her. Perhaps I'll find out more tomorrow with the next card draw....

:)
 

LupaGreenwolf

Huh--what a cool idea! I wonder how that would match up with genealogy work?
 

celticnoodle

Huh--what a cool idea! I wonder how that would match up with genealogy work?

well, tbh, I have tried in the past to contact my deceased ancestors in an attempt to find out genealogy information, but to no avail. :laugh: One great great grandfather of mine was a Prussian immigrant to the U.S. and I have no idea where in Prussia he is from nor his parents names, or his Pre-Americanized surname. I did make contact with him, but he was just so excited to come through to me, that he didn't give me the information I wanted--and instead just spoke about his service in the Civil War and his children. :laugh: Which WAS nice, don't get me wrong, but didn't help me in my genealogy information quest. :laugh:

THAT said, though, it was still really cool to make contact with an ancestor like this.

Another ancestor of my husbands came through to me in a dream and scared the hello out of me! He appeared to me and with a very harsh expression and booming voice, demanded to know why I was researching his family! I didn't know who he was at that time--and asked him. He replied to me with his name, which I recognized as an ancestor for my husband and so I explained to him. Funniest thing was that a few weeks or months later, didn't a distant cousin from the same line send me a copy of a picture of this same ancestor--and he looked EXACTLY like the spirit who came to me so ferociously! :D

however, unfortunately, he wasn't willing to help me along with genealogy information. :(

So, it may not help you to find genealogy information--but it can help you to POSSIBLY understand the other facts about your ancestors that aren't generally facts that were recorded. Which, I think is great to include in the genealogy records myself. I am fortunate that I have a lot of this information (stories about the ancestors) along with the usual--birth, marriage, and death dates, census records, occupation, and education level.
 

Samweiss

I can recommend an EXCELLENT book to help you use tarot in readings and in a more psychic way. It was written by Nancy Antenucci and Melanie Howard, both of whom are members here, but I can't recall their A.T. names and not sure they are here often. Anyway, the book is GREAT! and IMHO should be on everyone's bookshelf that is interested in tarot reading and developing their abilities. It is titled "Psychic Tarot, using your natural psychic abilities to read the cards". Very reasonably priced too and easy to read/understand with some wonderful exercises in there to develop your other abilities, with the cards. You can use these ideas with any deck--tarot or oracle and I've also changed them a bit to use in some psychic-medium circles I use to manage years ago. Check it out.

Thanks for the recommendation! I will look into that. :)

Very interesting. I wonder if YOU are the page of cups here? showing it as someone who is just beginning to develop their intuitive abilities? The Queen of Wands can be an ancestor of yours who is helping you with this, perhaps. This queen is often described as a practical person, earthy, and helpful in life. She can be someone you knew in life, or someone generations ago before you were even thought of. :)

That explanation makes some sense to me. Third card in that spread was Ace of Cups, and that could represent the gift of psychic abilities, or just spirituality in general.
 

RiverRunsDeep

I have been following this thread with great interest, and I hope you don't mind my jumping in here!

I've had various messages and visitations from my ancestors in my dreams, but the idea of being the one to initiate contact through the Tarot has me intrigued.
I'd like to give this a try, using the spread Chrystella shared. (Thank you, Chrystella!). I'll draw from the majors and the courts as an indication of the ancestor, but I have another idea as well. I think I'm going to draw from the courts twice; the second time, I will ask: Are you from the paternal or the maternal side of my family? I was considering using the Pages/Queens as maternal and the Knights/Kings as paternal. What do you guys think?

I'm going to use the Ghost Tarot. :)
 

conurelover

I have been following this thread with great interest, and I hope you don't mind my jumping in here!

I've had various messages and visitations from my ancestors in my dreams, but the idea of being the one to initiate contact through the Tarot has me intrigued.
I'd like to give this a try, using the spread Chrystella shared. (Thank you, Chrystella!). I'll draw from the majors and the courts as an indication of the ancestor, but I have another idea as well. I think I'm going to draw from the courts twice; the second time, I will ask: Are you from the paternal or the maternal side of my family? I was considering using the Pages/Queens as maternal and the Knights/Kings as paternal. What do you guys think?

I'm going to use the Ghost Tarot. :)

Oh oh yes I like the idea of using the courts for the maternal or paternal! I am doing this tomorrow before I start my weekly round of genealogy research! I want to add that I have asked tarot before about my mother's mysterious line and it has not helped. However Lenormand has helped with yes/no questions regarding them.

I too have been visited by ancestors I have never met in my dreams.

Tomorrow I think I will mix it up and try this with the Tarot of Delphi. I was using the Mary-El.