Ambience
Thanks for this everyone! It's really fantastic to read these posts, they have been really inspiring and i'm taking the advice here daily in my expansion and use of tarot.
Much love all x
Much love all x
What other uses does tarot have?
jrr01
You can play bridge like they do in France with the tarot cards... 
SunChariot
Have fun! I'm sure there are many beautiful surprises in store for you on your journey. 
Babs
Babs
SunChariot
SilentBreeze said:
OOooh! I second that! I loved that book when I started out. It was my favourite Tarot book for a long time. That is definitely a good answer to your question. The book is amazing, has all kinds of exercises to do with the cards, using the deck face up.
Babs
SunChariot
I almost forgot. Tarot meditations are very useful too. I do them in a way where I enter the card and ask the being there the questions I want to know and let myself "hear" the answers. They are like a secondary form of reading for me when I do them, which is not everyday as they tend to be long to do, but REALLY FUN. 
This is what I do anyway:
"From “The Complete Illustrated Guide to Tarot" by Rachel Pollack.
“MEDITATION ALLOWS US to engage the pictures on the cards in a very direct way.
There are many forms of meditation. We will look at a "program" that will allow you
to enter and explore any card.
We begin with relaxation. A relaxed state allows you to step outside the usual
movement of your life. Choose a place where you can sit comfortably so that you will not
have to shift around, but try to sit with your back straight. Place the card you want to
explore close by so you can easily pick it up. Since you do not want to stop and consult
this book, or even have to remind yourself what comes next, you might want to make a
tape of the following directions. Speak softly, without rush.
Then you have found a comfortable position close your eyes. Feel that you are coming
to a rest, still. Let thoughts and plans and problems begin to slide away from you. Begin
to breathe deeply and easily. Allow the breath to go right the way down to
the center of your body. As you take a breath out, release it entirely, in the confidence
that your next breath will there for you when you are ready for it. (Brief pause).
As you breathe in, breathe in a deep calm all through your body. Let it radiate through you. And as you breathe out, let the breath carry away any distractions or worries.
And as you breathe in, let your breath bring you the light of the stars. Let it fill you and
shine in you. You are a creature of light. And when you breathe out, send the light down
into the Earth. Send it through the floor, the dirt, the rock, deep into the Earth. With
each breath you become a link between the stars and the Earth. (Pause).
Now, with your eyes closed, and staying with your breath, reach out for the card. Hold it in both hands and feel its energy. Quietly open your eyes and look at it as if for the first time. Absorb all the details, colors, and characters. When you have seen it fully, close your eyes again and visualize the card in front of you. (Brief Pause)
Open your eyes and look again. What details did you miss? What small form or gesture did you leave out? Now close your eyes again and set down the card. Once more see it before you. Let the picture become bigger, the size of a large book, then a window.
And bigger still, until it becomes like a doorway. A doorway to a living world.
Motionless, with your eyes closed, imagine yourself standing before that
doorway. Now you step through it. Now you find yourself inside that world.
Let yourself look around. The world has grown beyond the picture. Feel the ground,
the breezes, smell the air, hear any noises of birds or people or wind. (Brief pause).
As you look around, you see the characters from the original picture. They are
active now, and you watch them move and speak. (Pause).
Now you find yourself drawn to them. You approach them and one figure, a person, or animal, or object, draws you still closer. You feel a special bond with this figure, this ally. Allow yourself to explore that. (Pause).
And now this powerful figure asks you to come very close. You approach the figure and
the being offers you a precious gift. Allow yourself to discover this gift and accept it.
(Pause).
Now you give your ally a gift in return. (Brief pause).
You recognize that the time has come to leave. You say goodbye to your ally and let
yourself step back. As you move away the scene becomes the way it was when you first
entered it. You look and see the doorway behind you. You step backward through it,
so that the scene once more lies on the others side. And now that doorway begins to shrink- the size of a window, a large book, a card. Now the picture you have created dissolves before you.
Sit quietly a moment, then take a deep breath, and when you let it out open
your eyes. Write or draw in your journal what you have experienced.”
That is the meditation as it is given in the book, very good book it is too btw. But what I personally do is that once I am in the card and in contact with the being in the card, I have a conversation with them. I tell them how glad I am to be there with them, have ask any questions I have and listen for the asnwers and then thank them and leave. There really is a really conversation going on when I do it. I just ask the questions and hear the answers in my mind. And they are coming from somewhere wise, because they do often make predictions that later come true."
Babs
This is what I do anyway:"From “The Complete Illustrated Guide to Tarot" by Rachel Pollack.
“MEDITATION ALLOWS US to engage the pictures on the cards in a very direct way.
There are many forms of meditation. We will look at a "program" that will allow you
to enter and explore any card.
We begin with relaxation. A relaxed state allows you to step outside the usual
movement of your life. Choose a place where you can sit comfortably so that you will not
have to shift around, but try to sit with your back straight. Place the card you want to
explore close by so you can easily pick it up. Since you do not want to stop and consult
this book, or even have to remind yourself what comes next, you might want to make a
tape of the following directions. Speak softly, without rush.
Then you have found a comfortable position close your eyes. Feel that you are coming
to a rest, still. Let thoughts and plans and problems begin to slide away from you. Begin
to breathe deeply and easily. Allow the breath to go right the way down to
the center of your body. As you take a breath out, release it entirely, in the confidence
that your next breath will there for you when you are ready for it. (Brief pause).
As you breathe in, breathe in a deep calm all through your body. Let it radiate through you. And as you breathe out, let the breath carry away any distractions or worries.
And as you breathe in, let your breath bring you the light of the stars. Let it fill you and
shine in you. You are a creature of light. And when you breathe out, send the light down
into the Earth. Send it through the floor, the dirt, the rock, deep into the Earth. With
each breath you become a link between the stars and the Earth. (Pause).
Now, with your eyes closed, and staying with your breath, reach out for the card. Hold it in both hands and feel its energy. Quietly open your eyes and look at it as if for the first time. Absorb all the details, colors, and characters. When you have seen it fully, close your eyes again and visualize the card in front of you. (Brief Pause)
Open your eyes and look again. What details did you miss? What small form or gesture did you leave out? Now close your eyes again and set down the card. Once more see it before you. Let the picture become bigger, the size of a large book, then a window.
And bigger still, until it becomes like a doorway. A doorway to a living world.
Motionless, with your eyes closed, imagine yourself standing before that
doorway. Now you step through it. Now you find yourself inside that world.
Let yourself look around. The world has grown beyond the picture. Feel the ground,
the breezes, smell the air, hear any noises of birds or people or wind. (Brief pause).
As you look around, you see the characters from the original picture. They are
active now, and you watch them move and speak. (Pause).
Now you find yourself drawn to them. You approach them and one figure, a person, or animal, or object, draws you still closer. You feel a special bond with this figure, this ally. Allow yourself to explore that. (Pause).
And now this powerful figure asks you to come very close. You approach the figure and
the being offers you a precious gift. Allow yourself to discover this gift and accept it.
(Pause).
Now you give your ally a gift in return. (Brief pause).
You recognize that the time has come to leave. You say goodbye to your ally and let
yourself step back. As you move away the scene becomes the way it was when you first
entered it. You look and see the doorway behind you. You step backward through it,
so that the scene once more lies on the others side. And now that doorway begins to shrink- the size of a window, a large book, a card. Now the picture you have created dissolves before you.
Sit quietly a moment, then take a deep breath, and when you let it out open
your eyes. Write or draw in your journal what you have experienced.”
That is the meditation as it is given in the book, very good book it is too btw. But what I personally do is that once I am in the card and in contact with the being in the card, I have a conversation with them. I tell them how glad I am to be there with them, have ask any questions I have and listen for the asnwers and then thank them and leave. There really is a really conversation going on when I do it. I just ask the questions and hear the answers in my mind. And they are coming from somewhere wise, because they do often make predictions that later come true."
Babs
