Tarot Purpose
If you are interested in the western Tarot, are interested in using it as a tool for spiritual awakening and empowerment, or just want to find out a bit more about it , then the first question we must address is, what is the tarot all about?
The Card Joyful from the Non-Masonic Halo/Sharp Tarot
Well, most obviously, the tarot is a deck of 78 picture cards, originating in the western world. The cards are divided in two basic groups. There are twenty two “major arcana” and fifty six “minor arcana.” In the traditional western system the major arcana have names like “The Fool” and “Judgment.” The minor arcana have, curious if you are paying attention, vaguely sexual names like “balls” and “cups” and “swords.” In the traditional tarot system, there are also court cards (what I’d call “hierarchy” cards because they represent hierarchies). These “hierarchy” cards, these kings, queens, pages, emperors and empresses, figure prominently in the traditional Masonic system, a system that has been the dominant system on this planet for over a hundred years now.
So what is the tarot about?
Well, if you ask people what this tarot system is about, most of them would tell you the tarot is some kind a picture card system that you can use to tell fortunes. For them it is about “divination.” Of course, those people who believe the tarot is about divination will be more or less sympathetic to the tarot system. Some people will stand behind it and say, “yes it is a useful tool for divination,” while others will tell you it is used by gypsies and old ladies, fruit loops and real kooks for the purpose of fantasy and/or thievery. To be honest, it doesn’t matter. The tarot can be used for divination, but so can a lot of different tools. If you ask me, if you need that sort of thing to help you connect to The Fabric of Consciousness, then tarot is about as good a divination system as any other. Over the course of our veiled centuries, people have used everything from pig entrails to tea leaves as part of their attempt to connect with the spiritual realms. They are all equally valid methods (though not equally tasteful) that veiled (i.e. blindfolded) individuals may use to communicate with The Fabric of Consciousness.
Not everybody of course believes the tarot is a simple divination system. A few other commentators over the years have recognized the western tarot as some kind of spiritual education system. These people, and there’s a few of them, are more or less vague about the full nature of the “education” you get with the tarot. Generally however, the message you get is that the tarot is some kind of “secret” book of symbols, with some “secret” meanings that you can, if you study real hard and prove yourself “worthy,” get access to. Of course, there is lots of different versions and lots of different strange (and sometimes twisted) ideas about the nature of the tarot “education system” and the sorts of things you are supposed to learn from it. Most people who take this view will argue that the tarot is some kind of system of spiritual or evolutionary enlightenment. It is a system that provides “information” to help you on your struggle (and it always presented as a struggle) out of darkness and into “the light.” In this view the tarot cards (or “keys” to your spiritual enlightenment, as they are sometimes called), provide a kind of secret code to help you struggle your way back home (however “home” happens to be defined). All you gotta do is lay out the cards, move them around, and decipher the code.
As for me, I do not see the tarot as an education system at all. For me, the Tarot is a collection of archetypes or ideas that we (and by “we” I mean whomever has control over those archetypes) use to manifest reality. For me the tarot is one manifestation among many of The Book, which is the term I use to describe the collection of planetary archetypes (a.k.a. creation template) fashioned deliberately to control (according to the principle As above in consciousness, so below in matter), the political, social, and psychological systems of this earth.
Wow, now isn’t that a big statement.
What does it mean?
Well, as I say in The Book of Light, consciousness is the root of all things.
Put another way, consciousness determines the way reality manifests around you.
As above in consciousness, so below in matter, as I like to say.
In this context the Tarot is a set of ideas that is put into your head that helps shape reality.
The tarot is a set of ideas – a book if you will.
Each tarot card (or key) is a page in that book.
Each key contributes to the overall message or gestalt.
The overall message sets a “tone” that creates “the world” that is around us.
Not so much the physical world but the social, political, psychological, and economic worlds.
And what kind of world does the tarot contribute to?
Well, that depends on whether you are talking about the “old energy” masonic tarot or the “new energy” Halo/Sharp tarot. To be perfectly honest with you, the tarot archetypes in the old energy tarot are not geared towards manifesting a world of freedom, prosperity, equality, and light. Quite the opposite in fact. Current implementations of The Book, including the old tarot systems, all contain “masonic” archetypes (i.e. rich old white boy archetypes) designed to create a world supportive of power and privilege, where access to privilege and power is carefully controlled and where we all willingly submit to energetic and physical slavery (for a synoptic overview of energetic slavery, read [amazon_link id="1897455119" target="_blank" ]The Rocket Scientists’ Guide to Money and the Economy[/amazon_link]. I know this might sound like an outrageous statement, but you can see it quite clearly in the Golden Dawn (a secret, “old boys” club) version of The Wheel of Fortune tarot key.
Not a very pretty picture, is it.
Anyway, as explained in detail in The Book of the Triumph of Spirit, these old book archetypes do this (i.e. create a world designed to support power and privilege) by painting a picture in consciousness of the nature of reality that includes ideas which justify, support, and allow for suffering, hierarchy, privilege, and power. The ideas in the old energy deck make it OK to judge, reward, punish, exclude, and otherwise build hierarchies of power and privilege.
But not our deck.
Our deck is different. Our deck, our system, the Halo/Sharp system, provides new (and safe!!) archetypes that, when implemented in your consciousness, will not provide yet another “interpretation” of masonic energies but will instead free you from the chains of The System and allow your body and mind (i.e., your physical unit) to begin a process of healing, awakening, empowerment, and transformation that will, if you follow it through (and do not get turned away, turned back, or led away down some blind alley) leave you standing breathless and in wonderment at profound awesomeness of your full and divine potential and power.
Of course, the Halo/Sharp tarot doesn’t stand alone here. The Halo/Sharp is part of a larger system of spiritual awakening known as The Lightning Path. If you are interested in finding out more, there are a number of directions you can follow.
- You can get a brief introduction to the Halo/Sharp tarot system and archetypes by browsing this website. Have a look at the key to tarot symbolism and the overview of the tarot archetypes.
- You can get an overview of the Lightning Path itself by visiting this Introduction to The Lightning Path
- If you want to jump right in and get started, signup for the INTRODUCTORY EMAIL LESSONS. These lessons will orient you to the Lightning Path and you get you started on your path to awakening and empowerment.
And that’s about it. If you are interested in the tarot for spiritual awakening (or if you are interested in spiritual awakening in general), and if you don’t want to use the old energy deck because of its association with hierarchy, power, and privilege, then you’ve come to the right place. This is your first JOYFUL step back towards the light, power, and divinity that is your divine birthright.
