Tarot

TAROT divination is not fortune-telling. The practice of fortune-telling is based on the false notion that human life is governed by luck, chance, or fate--by obscure powers at work outside the personality. True divination rests upon the occult truth that the causes of all events in human life are really internal, proceeding from the Cause of Causes-- the Universal Intelligent Energy or Life-power which is the Source, Mover and Knower behind all the phenomena of the universe.

Because this Universal Intelligent Energy is omnipresent, it must necessarily be a real presence at any given point in space. Consequently it must be the real Presence at the heart of every human personality. That Presence is the True Self, the real I AM, the Concealed Divinity in the shrine of the temple of personality. This True self is the author of all phenomena, and its perfect knowledge includes all the details of phenomenal manifestation, past, present and future. It knows all events, and the significance of all events. Thus it knows the complete past, present and future of every human being.

Ordinarily this perfect knowledge of the True Self is hidden from us; but under certain conditions some part of it may be brought down into the personal level of awareness. The right use of Tarot provides the necessary conditions, because Tarot is a device invented by expert psychologists who understood the laws whereby the superconscious knowledge of the True Self may be brought to bear upon the specific problems which confront us as we function at the self-conscious level of our waking existence.

The Tarot Keys are composed of pictorial and geometrical symbols. These symbols are the natural "language" of the subconscious mind, a language older than any human tongue, a language from which all modes of human speech have been derived. Fundamentally we think in pictures, not in words, and this pictorial language, common to the whole human race, is the means whereby the subconscious mind may communicate to us the higher knowledge reflected from the superconscious levels of the True Self.

As you begin to study divination, bear in mind that it is not meant to satisfy your own or another's idle curiosity about the future. Take the work seriously. What you are about to learn is a method whereby you may bring to bear upon your own problems, and upon the problems of those who consult you, the light of the superconscious knowledge of past, present and future which is characteristic of the mental activity of the One Life-power. To deal lightly with this is truly to profane the most sacred of mysteries, and the penalty for such profanation is inevitable. He who debases Tarot to mere fortune-telling will rob himself of whatever insight he may possess. He will deceive himself and others by false visions, and may open the door to dangerous obsession by inimical astral entities.

The practice of divination offers you a real opportunity to serve, and will aid you to unfold intuitive powers of a high order. As you become more and more proficient, you will be called upon by persons beset by all sorts of perplexities, faced by all sorts of seeming obstacles, troubled by all sorts of appearances of inharmony. As you gain their confidence they will tell you their inmost secrets. Never abuse that confidence. Make it a rule not to discuss the affairs of your consultants--not even anonymously. There is altogether too much comparison of horoscopes, altogether too much discussion of the affairs of clients, in certain circles of persons interested in astrology, palmistry, numerology, and other divinatory arts.

Furthermore, avoid personal judgement of the lives of your consultants. Even when their views and conduct differ radically from your opinions and standards, remember that every condemnatory judgement is evidence that he who makes it is himself more or less in the dark. To divine well you must be in sympathetic rapport with your consultants, and there can be no sympathy where there is condemnation.