The Tarot, like Esoteric Astrology, Esoteric Numerology, and the core of all the great religions, was really meant for those who are on the journey of the evolution of expanded consciousness. It was never intended to be used as a card game, or a method of prediction.
It comes down to us from the Ancient Wisdom teachings, and it has gained its present form and symbolism over thousands of years. Each card of the Major Arcana represents a phase, or spiral, and it takes incredible work to go from one spiral to the next. Their symbols had to be very simple and special, so that the phases could be remembered and understood.
Like a seed these ancient teachings were planted in the West, then disappeared for a while, and then in order to come back had to be put in a popularised form, and so cards were created. Now we have hundreds of different packs of tarot cards and they carry, for those who can hear, the true message of the Soul.
The Tarot, seen as an initiatic tool, offers a perception of the inner work that a human being has to achieve as he associates with his Soul. This leads to contact with the higher mind and its universal experience.
This new exploration of the Tarot reveals the esoteric numerological links underlying this ancient system, connecting the journey of the tarot also to the initiatic teachings, which express the idea of the inner work related to the expansion of consciousness.
This expansion takes place through the realisation that there is more to life than the outer form. As we explore beyond those physical, emotional and mental aspects in us that we call the personality, we find another energy that is not so easy to define and which seems to move us at a deeper level; this is the Soul. It is by being receptive to its mystery that we can start to connect to the universal collective energy of the Spirit.
The different stages in this pioneering expansion into the unknown, unseen world of Soul and Spirit are reflected in the twenty-two cards of the Major Arcana. They provide a structure or map on which that journey can be recognised. The symbols on the cards translate the practical steps that can be applied to the everyday lives by those who seek greater consciousness.
These symbols, at the time they were made, were linked to what was known of the ancient traditions, such as the Ancient Egyptian, Hebraic, Christian and Islamic cultures. Like parables, they tell the hidden story in a universal language that can be translated according to the understanding of the reader.
The Tarot is a book for disciples and aspirants, or those who are open and ready to hear the symbolic language of the Soul. The first language was number, then the language of pictures and myths kept the knowledge of initiatic enlightenment alive.
Numbers give us a never-ending appreciation of the cycles of manifestation of life as it progresses towards its apotheosis. Every card is a stage in our personal transformation.
The Tarot is a pictorial crystallisation of the mysterious language of number to guide us through the cycles of spiritual transformation. Each card can only be understood in relation to the one before and the one after, just as with numbers. We can really only truly understand a 2 or a 3 if we’ve understood what the number 1 was about. Number 1 by itself without time and space has no chance of realising itself!
The Tarot reveals itself as a guide through which we can look at the state of our awareness of the world as it is in this very moment and it offers us the perspective and perception of the Soul on the traumas and crises that face us.
Part 1 of the Esoteric Tarot course will take place from 10th to 15th February 2015 and Part 2 from 24th to 29th June 2015. For further information, please, visit the page Events/Courses and the page Tarot.
