Long ago I discovered four cards that took the energy of their suit and maximized it to the extreme.  I usually say it doubles the energy of the card, but it could possibly represent up to a hundred times the energy of the card, depending on your situation or the person it's referring to.  What I mean by "energy" is that the energy of a card depends on its affiliation with the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water.  

• Earth energy is represented the actual earth, money, physical health and fitness, leadership, nature, patience, stability, honesty, balance, resourcefulness, our homes, employment, growth, prosperity and wealth, grounding, sustenance, survival, the great outdoors, etc.  In the four-grid elements of human existence, this is the physical realm. 
• Air energy is represented by the actual air, all forms of communication, the intellect, travel, writing, contracts/agreements, mental strength, memory, purification, music, breathing, sound, speaking, fragrance, ideas, knowledge, inspiration, imagination, dreams, wishes, freedom, etc.  In the four-grid elements of human existence, this is the mental realm. 
• Fire energy is represented by actual fire, passion, anger, transformation, cleansing, destruction, protection, energy, rebirth, purification, truth, hope, enthusiasm, brightness, illumination, activity, heat, concepts, alchemy, conversion, etc.  In the four-grid elements of human existence, this is the spiritual realm. 
• Water energy is represented by actual water, emotions, love, creativity and creation, regeneration and rebirth, movement, cleansing, healing, friendship, life-giving, nurturing, fertility, happiness, marriage, dreams, sleep, peace, etc.  In the four-grid elements of human existence, this is the emotional realm. 

Normally I do not use spreads.  That's because you can almost glean everything you need to know in a reading from using very few cards.  But I wanted to prove today that you can use certain spreads and have it be just as powerful of a reading as though you'd fully explored one card in depth into your issue (which, to me, the one card reading can be the most powerful reading you can do with the Soul Archaeology method).

The tip to remember is to use spreads that contain prompts that are almost like journal prompts rather than asking for "outcomes" or other such things that the tarot honestly doesn't "know".  If you don't know the outcome of a situation, then a piece of cardboard certainly won't.  The same goes for future positions (as in the Celtic Cross) or even positions that require to think from another person's perspective.  But there are some good spreads out there, some of which are on my Pinterest board, as you can see below.  The one where the spread positions pose open-ended questions that you can use for introspection are the kind to look for.

Today we're using this spread I got from Pinterest (it's pinned to my spreads board, so go check it out here):





Here is my spread above.  I am using the Modern SpellCaster's Tarot deck (you can find my review of this deck here).

First, I shuffled my deck.  When you shuffle, just shuffle until they are mixed well.  No need to "feel" they are shuffled right, just do as you would if you were playing poker. Nobody wants repeat cards you've seen 100x lately, right?  So shuffle well and you'll get new cards to play with for each reading :)  If you don't like a card, pick a new one (as you'll see I did later in the reading).

Then I laid out my cards and turned on Pandora to listen to some good music (the channel I have on is Daughter radio).    Here is how I read them:

Position 1: "Which area of my life will this new adventure impact?"

Page of Pentacles

Position 2: Skills I currently possess that will help a smooth transition...

Strength 8

Position 3: Something that holding me back from this new experience.

Three of Swords

Position 4: The most significant thing I will learn from this adventure.

Judgement 20

Position 5: How this new experience gets me closer to my life purpose.

Ace of Swords

Position 5a: King of Swords

Why not try this spread out and see what you come up with?  Soul Archaeology is about digging deep into your soul for the answers, not to expect the "cards" tell you what you need to know.  You already know the answers, my dear.  The cards just bring it forth.



So, what are you waiting for?  Give it a try (reading with introspection instead of prediction) and see what you come up with.  I bet you'll surprise yourself 😉




As I was doing this reading, this song came on my Pandora station.  I want to share it with you here, as I feel it's fitting for this reading:

Let's face it.  Living?  Is hard.  Not every day is full of puppies and rainbows.  And when those bad days happen (or those period of bad times) we all desperately want to know when they will end.  So we seek fortunetellers or we seek to tell our futures ourselves with some sort of divination.  Now, not all people do this, but a huge amount of us do.

If you look in every single culture, you will find some sort of "shaman" or "fortuneteller" that helps people understand their present or past issues, along with how their futures will be.  The issue with this is that it is a magnet for con-artists and narcissists to hurt already hurting people.  They see their pain and want to take advantage of them while they're at your lowest (or most desperate).  They see these people as quick way to make a buck.

Another issue with wanting to know our future is that there's the sheer fact that there's no way to actually see into the future.  Tarot won't tell you what will happen to you any more than child's picture book or an art book would.  Because that's all tarot cards are, cards with art on them.  That's it.

So while you do a reading for yourself or get one done and you hear something that makes you happy, just know there's always a 50/50 chance of hearing either good or bad news for your future, it just depends on what the reader (or what you read) "sees" (meaning how they angle it).  Angling a reading is a mixture of "gut feelings", past experience with this situation on the reader's part, and how well they can relate to your situation.  "Gut feelings" are nothing more than guesses.  They get a "feeling" and go with it.  The feelings may have a basis in reality.  Or not.  Again, 50/50.

What if you don't hear what you want to hear (or read what you want to read)?  Well, then you're stuck feeling like crap again.  What if you do hear what you want to hear?  Then you're feeling good based on a educated (or uneducated) guess on the reader's part or your part.

Whether you hear what you want to hear or, instead, more bad news, you are at the whim of whatever those cards tell you.  Wouldn't you rather find the answers to your questions in a more concrete way that can actually help you overcome what's going on in your life?

So, how do we combat this need for future-telling?  

Well, we first have to look at the two things people wanting their cards read are really asking for:

1. Advice
2. Future Predictions

Most of the people seeking out a tarot reading are looking for #1.  #2 is either a byproduct of the reading on the reader's part or sometimes our clients will flat out ask for a prediction, but most of my clients have not.  So if the real reason people are consulting the tarot is for advice, why are we calling it "fortunetelling"?  Why are we calling the people who read for us "psychic"?  Why are we calling ourselves psychic?

We need to get away from all that mystical fortunetelling and start using the tarot for what it's actually good it, which is giving advice.  And, although as fun as it sounds, nobody needs special powers to give advice to their clients.  As readers, we need to stop perpetuating this form of escapism and start getting real.  There are plenty of ways we humans can experience healthy escapism, but fortunetelling, unfortunately, isn't one of them.

Instead of needing to know our future, we need to look at how we can enjoy our present instead.  And if we're in a rough patch, we need to learn healthy ways of dealing with those rough patches.  If we're lookin for love after a string of bad lovers?  We need to actually figure out what's going on in our lives and why we're choosing scrubs instead of finding healthy partners to share our lives with.  If we're experiencing financial trouble, we need to look at our financial habits and find logical ways of getting ourselves out of the red.  The tarot can help us do these things still, yes, but not with predictions and "messages" and whatnot.  The answers always lie within us.  We just have to know where to look.

Escapism is fun.  Of course it is.  But the tarot is a real tool that can actually help us if we know how to use it right.  So why pretend it can do things it can't when it can actually do better things?  It makes no sense. 

It's like trying to hydrate yourself through swimming in water when you should be drinking it.  

When you're in trouble in life, and you need help and want to consult the tarot, don't turn to people who can (and will) steal your money who just give you false hope (this includes both tarot readers who use traditional tarot reading techniques and also reading it yourself in that way).  Instead, look within.  The tarot is your mirror and can magnify the hidden answers within your own soul.  If you can't find a reader who can help you see these things, then get your own deck and do it yourself.  If you're stuck on how to do this, then come back here and learn how.  Instead of giving you false hope, it can give you powerful readings with real answers.  Your therapist can do the same thing (if they are good at their jobs).  So think of tarot as a therapist in a box.  The best therapists can help you see the answers were in you all along.  As can good life coaches.  As does the tarot.

So rather than looking for predictions of how your life will turn out?  Realize that life will turn out the way it will because of *YOUR* choices in life, and how you choose to deal with those bad parts.  Nothing can save you from negativity bringing you down in life but you. 

But if you feel completely lost and have no way out?  Then call your doctor or therapist (do not hesitate).

If you just need a pick me up, consult your tarot.  The tarot is there as a portable companion to your daily life for when you just need some clarity.


And when you have clarity, there is never need a need to know what the future holds.  Instead, you'll be ready and willing to face whatever comes with the right frame of mind because you'll be confident in your ability to deal with it.




How has the tarot given you clarity in your life?  Let me know below!

Coming from a somewhat Buddhist background, I find that applying the principles and ideas of Buddhism to tarot to be not only be quite enlightening, but it almost feels like it is it's true purpose.  I know I sound like a broken record, but using the tarot to predict the future is such a antiquated view on what tarot really is and why it works so well.  We need to move to more personal, spiritual, and flexible ways of using it instead of the rigid ways traditional tarot reading.

Tarot works so well because it speaks to our psyches with its pictorial representations of life in all of its aspects.  It's something Jung understood quite well in his theory of archetypes.  These archetypes were applies to the major arcana, as they represent the cycle of the regular human life.  The Minors are also archetypes, but instead of major ones, they were more basic, representing us in our basic human emotions, needs, and mundane activities.  That's why the tarot works.  Every aspect of life is represented in every single card, so every single card applies to us.

I am also a student of psychology, and I can clearly see how Buddhism and psychology overlap, especially in the tarot. Buddhism is not mystical (as the tarot shouldn't be).  It's got a strong basis in psychology, which again, like the tarot, why it works so well.  Anytime you have a tool that speaks to the human experience as a whole?  You will find a system that is more perfect than flawed.  Especially if that tool is as flexible as Buddhism and the tarot are.  This means, as long as you can make it your own?  It will be the most powerful tool you'll ever have to work with.

Why?

Because everyone is different.  And if we don't have tools that are flexible, then that means they are rigid.  And since when did something rigid work for everyone?

When you use the tarot, instead of immediately letting your brain go to "What is this card's traditional meaning?" you see the card for what it is.  Every little bit of it.  You take it all in and see how it applies to what you're wondering about in your life.  Every single reading needs to be, as Mary K. Greer says: RITE (Readings should be Interactive, Transformative, and Empowering).  I believe in this wholeheartedly with every single reading I give or do.  This means that a reading should have everyone involved in the reading (you and your client or just yourself), it should foster authentic change, and you (or your client) should know by the end of the reading how to be in control of your own destiny.  I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment, which is why I completely changed the way I read to what you find today on my blog.  Traditional readings do not foster this type environment for the person getting their cards read (for yourself or your client).

So, how do you get your readings RITE?  

You need to remember the first name of my website: RAINY.  This will help you create some transformational tarot readings that leave you feeling empowered.


R: Relax.  Nothing is complicated here.  Nothing needs to be perfect or controlled.  You can't mess up something that happens naturally.  If you only you allow it to happen naturally.

A: Allow. Allow your mind to wander.  Make up scenarios of the people on the cards.  Let your mind travel to anything that comes up.  Just allow it to happen without you trying to control it.  Allow your feelings.  Do not judge them, just let them surface, then investigate them.

I: Interact/Investigate.  Interact with the people/animals on the cards. Have a conversation with them.  Get into their heads. Investigate their motivations.  Because their motivations are your own. Investigate your own emotions during a reading.  Follow the rabbit down the hole without judgment.  See where it leads.  Be open.

N: Nothing.  Sit with your feelings. How does what you just learned make you feel?  Just sit and let all you just learned absorb into your soul.  If more feelings come up, go back to the investigation part again.  Draw a new card if you need to. 

Y: Yield.  Take a pause.  Ask yourself, do you really need to draw another card? Rather than automatically drawing several cards in a reading, draw one at a time. Stop when you've figured out your issue.  When using the SA method, you'll find that you'll use way less cards than you do when using the traditional way (I find that I usually only need one card anymore, when I used to automatically draw 12 for my "house readings"...it's quite a different experience!). 

The Buddhist Perspective

1. Seeing things as they are, not as we want them to be;
2. Having our intentions be true and not selfish;
3. Speaking compassionately instead of talking without thinking;
4. Practicing ethical conduct so the pain we cause other living things is minimal;
5. Working a job we're proud of, not one that effects others negatively;
6. Recognize our negative behaviors and work hard to fix them;
7. Using mindfulness to stay in the moment instead of thinking of the past or future;
8. Practicing loving-kindness and keeping the mind on things that matter instead of worrying, etc.

Tarot is a very personal tool that works best when you are reading it for yourself.  As a human, we tend to see things out of the context of our own lives, meaning we put what we know into our readings.  It's not only inevitable, but it's also impossible not to.  Rather than rose-colored glasses, we see every experience with our own personal lens.  Many (wrong) tarot instruction books will tell you "You have to be careful not to do this!", when in reality, you can't not do it.

Then we add on the fact that there is no such thing as psychic ability (for some, we have an uncanny ability to connect with other humans and can easy to see what they're going through, but it's not supernatural in any way, it's psychological), then how can we see tarot as a tool to read for others?

I am not a tarot reader.  I am a tarot guide.  I use the tarot to help the client see the answers to their questions in their own psyches.  Only they hold the answers they seek.  Not me.  I can give advice, yes, I am very good at this.  But I can't give you the answers.  I can only help you read the map.  Together we can travel down the road to find where the answer may lay.  And I can give you the shovel the find it.  But you have to do the digging yourself.

Matisyahu has an amazing song called "Searching" with some spoken verses at the end of the song that go:


In the Earth, there are so many wonderful treasures. 
And if you know where to dig, 
You will find gold, diamonds, jewelery, all kinds of treasures. 
But if you don't know where to dig, all you will find is rocks and dirt. 
A rebel is the geologist of the soul. 
He can show you where to dig, and what to dig for, 
But the digging you must do yourself (the digging you must do yourself)"


That's how I see the tarot: a soul geologist (or what I call, a soul archaeologist).  The tarot can show you where to dig and what to dig for, but you have to do it yourself if you want real and true answers.

And how can I sit there with a card and guide you while you're not sitting next to me looking at the same card?  It's doable.  But it's not powerful.  And it's very disconnected (this is the feedback from my beta clients recently).  And who wants a disconnected reading?  So from this time forward, I will not be doing tarot reading for anyone online (except in my classes over Skype).

Personally, tarot reading should be done only a handful of times by another person other than yourself.  And the only reason to get a reading from another person would be have them guide you to find your own answers until you get the hang of seeing the deeper parts of the cards.

Instead, I will be doing more youtube videos about tarot reading my way, I will create more ebooks for you to learn from, and I will be creating more classes for you all to take, so you can learn how to read for yourself which is the BEST way to read the tarot.

If you are looking for clarity and insight in your life right now, then go buy a tarot deck (or just check out pictures of particular cards online at random) and learn with me how to read them to give yourself the best reading possible.  When you properly read the tarot, you are both the therapist and the client.  And you walk away with so much insight that you'll feel ready to take on the world!

Check out my beginner's class here:

The Rainy Day Tarot Shoppe

I know it sounds crazy, but it's true!  Each tarot card is a question to ask of yourself, not a prediction.  So let's get away from the "fortunetelling" aspect of it all together and instead, start getting into the real, honest, and raw answers of what you really want to know.

Tarot is a tool, we've all heard this before, right?  But what you haven't heard is that it's not a tool of telling your or your client's future.  It's a personal tool used to find the answers that you already know.

That's right!  You already know the answers you are seeking.  You just need the right tool to excavate that answer (or answers) from your heart, mind, body, and soul 💗

Sometimes that tool is talking to your BFF, or a parent, or your significant other.  And other times it's talking to a therapist, or a trusted professional.  But sometimes...you just need someone who will listen without judgment.  And that tool can be a deck of tarot cards or a tarot reader.  If you choose to have your cards read, know that any reader that makes a prediction for you, no matter how well meaning they are, cannot really help you get to the core of what your question is.  And therefore are not giving you the help that you truly need.  Learning to read the cards yourself (the Soul Archaeology way) may be, at times, your only option.  I offer a class that is available here!

If you aren't interested in taking the class, then just keep on reading for a free mini-course below!!

Soul Archaeology With The Tarot Mini-Course