by Marcus Katz
Hail, Long-Strider who comes from Heliopolis, I have not done iniquity.
Hail, Embraced-by Fire who comes from Kher-aha, I have not robbed with violence.
Hail, Divine-Nose who comes from Khemmenu, I have not done violence to another man.
Hail, Shade-Eater who comes from the caverns which produce the Nile, I have not committed theft.
Hail, Neha-hau who comes from Re-stau, I have not killed man or woman.
Hail, double Lion God who comes from heaven, I have not lightened the bushel.
Hail, Flint-Eyes who comes from Sekhem, I have not acted deceitfully.
Hail, Flame who comes backwards, I have not stolen what belongs to the gods.
Hail, Bone-Crusher who comes from Heracleopolis, I have not lied.
Hail, Flame-Grower who comes from Memphis, I have not carried away food.
Hail, Qerti, who comes from the west, I have not uttered evil words.
Hail, Shining-Tooth who comes from Ta-She, I have attacked no man.
Hail, Blood-Consumer who comes from the house of slaughter, I have not slaughtered sacred cattle.
Hail, Entrail-Consumer who comes from the mabet chamber, I have not cheated.
Hail, God of Maat who comes from the city of twin Maati, 10 I have not laid waste lands which have been ploughed.
Hail, Backward-Walker who comes from Bubastis, I have not pried mischievously into others' affairs.
Hail, Aati who comes from Heliopolis, I have not foolishly set my mouth in motion against another man.
Hail, doubly evil who comes from Ati, I have not given way to wrath without cause.
Hail, serpent Amenti who comes from the house of slaughter, I have not defiled the wife of a man.
Hail, you who look at what is brought to you who comes from the Temple of Amsu, I have not pollluted myself.
Hail, Chief of the Princes who comes from Nehatu, I have not terrified any man.
Hail, Destroyer who comes from the Lake of Kaui, I have not trespassed sacred grounds.
Hail, Speech-Orderer who comes from the Urit, I have not been angry.
Hail, Child who comes from the Lake of Heqat, I have not made myself deaf to Maat.
Hail, Disposer-of-Speech who comes from Unes, I have not stirred up strife.
Hail, Basti who comes from the Secret City, I have made no one to weep.
Hail, Backwards-Face who comes from the Dwelling, I have committed no acts of impurity.
Hail, Leg-of-Fire who comes from the Akheku, I have not eaten my heart.
Hail, Kenemti who comes from Kenemet, I have not abused anyone.
Hail, Offering-Bringer who comes from Sais, I have not acted with violence.
Hail, Lord-of-Faces who comes from Tchefet, I have not judged hastily.
Hail, Giver-of-Knowledge who comes from Unth, I have not taken vengeance on a god.
Hail, Lord-of-Two-Horns who comes from Satiu, I have not spoken too much.
Hail, Nefer-Tem who comes from Memphis, I have not acted with deceit nor have I performed wickedness.
Hail, Tem-Sep who comes from Tattu, I have not cursed the king.
Hail, Heart-Laborer who comes from Tebti, I have not polluted the water.
Hail, Ahi-of-the-water who comes from Nu, I have not been haughty.
Hail, Man-Commander, who comes from Sau, I have not cursed the god.
Hail, Neheb-nefert who comes from the Lake of Nefer, I have not been insolent.
Hail, Neheb-kau who comes from your city, I have not been sought distinctions.
Hail, Holy-Head who comes from your dwelling, I have not increased my wealth, except with such things as were mine.
Hail, Arm-Bringer who comes from the the Underworld, I have not scorned the god of my city.
Recommended Reading
Stadler, Martin. (2008). Judgment after Death (Negative Confession). UC Los Angeles: UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology.
Jeremy Naydler, Temple of the Cosmos: The Ancient Egyptian Experience of the Sacred (Rochester: Inner Traditions, 1996).
Manfred Lurker, The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Egypt (London: Thames & Hudson, 1980)
The Leaves Upon the Wind Method
Use the element of Air to Divine your Deck and cast your Question to the Winds
Take the Major Cards (or a picture of same) and fasten each of them to one of 22 balloons. Also fasten a small stamped postcard to the balloon and place your name and address on it and a request to return the postcard. Ensure the postcard has the name or number of the Tarot card on it.
If you are nervous about sending Tarot cards into the air, select 22 postcards whose pictures represent the 22 Majors. This is a fun exercise in itself. Fasten them to the balloons, using a number on the postcard also to remind you which Tarot card it represents.
Consider your question and release the balloons into the air at a propitious moment. You will of course realize that if doing this with an original deck, you may not see some of these cards again.
As the cards come back to you through the postal system, read them as an answer to your question. The delays between the returns or the lack of return of some, all or any card is also a divinatory response. You may also get messages written on your return cards, such as “This was found upside down in my pond in Carlisle” signifying the card is reversed and the meaning of the card is where you can find strength (the place-name Carlisle comes from the Latin for “fort”).
Illus. Balloons.
The 4MAT ® Spread
A spread for learning best from a dramatic event of the past or future.
The 4MAT® cycle is a system of learning and teaching using 4 quadrants of a circle and is a useful model for all teachers and trainers – even Tarot teachers! Here in this simple 4-card spread we use it to explore how we might learn from a powerful event in our own lives.
Draw 4 Cards.
1. What was really going on in the experience?
2. What can we learn from reflecting on the experience?
3. How can we learn from, comprehend our reflection, make sense of it?
4. How can we act on what we have learnt?
You can also consider the base card (the card at the bottom of the deck when you have performed this reading) as the integration card, showing you how this event fits into the rest of your life.
You can perform this spread as a predictive or coaching spread about a major event in the life of a Querent, such as an important job start, change of location, relationship etc., to ensure they get the best out of the change to come.
A Note For Tarot Teachers
You can learn more about Bernice McCarthy’s 4MAT® cycle at her blog and the site http://www.aboutlearning.com.
I would also recommend her book, with Dennis McCarthy, Teaching around the 4MAT cycle: designing instruction for diverse learners (Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2006).
The GO Method
A method for divining how two parties will develop together for better or worse.
The Game of GO has been played for thousands of years and with elegant simplicity, its rules generate a beautiful pattern of play which reflects life. Indeed, as said by one Japanese Noh poet, the “white and black stones become the colors of night and day” and the 360 intersections of a full game board become the “numbers of the days of the year”.
Illus. A Small GO Board.
In fact, in connection with cards, there is an 1811 bible which has as a frontispiece text a discussion between a soldier and a mayor, the latter of whom has caught the solider with a deck of cards in church. The soldier, in his defense, relates how a deck of playing cards is not a sin but rather an almanac of the world and the bible. This includes “when I count how many spots there are in a pack of cards I find there are three hundred and sixty-five. There are so many days in year”. The Mayor points out this is a mistake, but the soldier answers it is impossible to create a perfect almanac in every respect – something we saw in Tarot Timings earlier!
As play proceeds in GO, th
ere are seen to be arising strategic patterns and flows of moves, creating constellations of stones in play with evocative names such as “ladder”, “net” or “carpenters box”. We use this element of GO in our Tarot method of reading.
This works best on a GO board, or a chessboard or other matrix pattern, such as the black and white chequers on a decorated tabletop. It uses two decks. In my example, I chose the PSYCARDS and the UNIVERSAL WAITE decks.
To perform a reading using the GO Method:
Choose which deck will represent each party.
Shuffle both decks.
Lay down the first card from one of the decks. This is the first position of the first party and indicates their current state.
Lay down anywhere on the board the first card from the second deck. This is the first position of the second party and indicates their current state.
Now select the next card from the first deck and place it to respond to the previous card “played”. You may feel as if you should lay it close to the one of the two cards in play, or not, perhaps inbetween them.
Allow the cards and positions to suggest the arising play. This is a purely intuitive method and the aim should be to create subtle patterns of meaning and interpretation during the play of the cards.
If a number of cards surround a card, then the central card(s) might be removed, showing how the influence of one party acts upon the other.
Sometimes you might find yourself running cards in a straight line, called a ladder in GO. This shows certain inevitability in the situation.
You may create rules as you progress, such as if the Blasted Tower is played close to any other card from the other deck, that other card is immediately removed from the board and annulled from the situation.
Recommended Reading & Resources
GO! More Than a Game, Peter Shotwell (Boston, Tuttle Publishing, 2003)
Psycards at http://www.psycards.com
Illus. Preparing Psycards and Tarot Cards on a GO Board.
The Stairway to Heaven Spread [Narrative Method]
A Narrative spread of Tarosophy® for divining the nature of our own spiritual ascent.
Illus. Ramon Lull (Ladder of Ascent, 1512).
Placed edge to edge, they form, as it were, a symbolic ladder leading from Heaven to earth. From the summit of this ladder God, the Prima Causa, governs the world - not directly, but stepwise, ex gradibus, by means of a succession of intermediaries. The divine power is thus transmitted down to the lowest level of humanity, to the humble beggar. But the ladder can likewise be read from bottom to top; seen in this way it ‘teaches that man may gradually raise himself in the spiritual order, reaching at last the heights of the Bonum, the Veram, and the Nobile - and that science and virtue bring him closer to God.
The Survival of the Pagan Gods, Jean Seznac, describing the Tarocchi of Mantegna [ca. 1460] pp. 138 - 139.
In this method, we insert Tarot cards into a narrative flow of text to create a journal entry for contemplation. Simply read out or write the narrative and select cards as you work through the narrative.
This particular narrative is designed from the writings of Saint John Climacus, The Ladder of Ascent. It uses 30 cards. You may also derive suitable narratives from any other religious or meaningful text, such as the Charge of the Goddess by Doreen Valiente (following this example), the Holy Books of Thelema, or other mystical verse or poetry.
On renunciation of the world … I will work on [card 1]
On detachment … I will examine my attachment to [card 2]
On exile or pilgrimage; concerning dreams that beginners have … I will consider [card 3]
On blessed and ever-memorable obedience (in addition to episodes involving many individuals) … I will ensure [card 4]
On painstaking and true repentance which constitutes the life of the holy convicts; and about the Prison … I will think upon [card 5]
On remembrance of death … [card 6]
On joy-making and mourning … I will be reminded of [card 7]
On freedom from anger and on meekness … I will [card 8]
On remembrance of wrongs … I must [card 9]
On slander or calumny … it is seen that [card 10]
On talkativeness and silence … the importance is [card 11]
On lying … there is only [card 12]
On despondency … the lesson is [card 13]
On that clamorous mistress, the stomach … we see [card 14]
On incorruptible purity and chastity, to which the corruptible attain by toil and sweat … we are taught [card 15]
On love of money, or avarice … I know [card 16]
On non-possessiveness (that hastens one Heavenwards) … [card 17]
On insensibility, that is, deadening of the soul and the death of the mind before the death of the body … I believe [card 18]
On sleep, prayer, and psalmody with the brotherhood … there is [card 19]
On bodily vigil and how to use it to attain spiritual vigil, and how to practise it … [card 20]
On unmanly and puerile cowardice … avoided by [card 21]
On the many forms of vainglory … we must reason [card 22]
On mad pride and (in the same Step) on unclean blasphemous thoughts; concerning unmentionable blasphemous thoughts … [card 23]
On meekness, simplicity, and guilelessness which come not from nature but from conscious effort, and about guile … the lesson is [card 24]
On the destroyer of the passions, most sublime humility, which is rooted in spiritual perception … I come to know [card 25]
On discernment of thoughts, passions and virtues; on expert discernment; brief summary of all aforementioned … the outcome is [card 26]
On holy stillness of body and soul; different aspects of stillness and how to distinguish them … I learn [card 27]
On holy and blessed prayer, the mother of virtues, and on the attitude of mind and body in prayer … from which I take [card 28]
Concerning Heaven on earth, or Godlike dispassion and perfection, and the resurrection of the soul before the general resurrection … this means to me [card 29]
Concerning the linking together of the supreme trinity among the virtues; a brief exhortation summarizing all that has said at length in this text … the outcome is [card 30].
The Cards of the Goddess [Narrative Spread]
A narrative spread based on the Charge of the Goddess by Doreen Valiente.
In this pagan spread, we examine our relationship to Nature and the divine Goddess. There are of course many pagan-based or Witchcraft and Wiccan decks that are suitable for this particular method. This method makes for a wonderful entry in your Book of Shadows. It is based on Doreen Valiente’s Charge of the Goddess:
Whenever ye have need of any thing, once in the month, and better it be when the moon is full, then shall ye assemble in some secret place and adore the spirit of She, who is Queen of all witches. There shall ye assemble, ye who are fain to learn all sorcery, yet have not won its deepest secrets; to these will She teach things that are yet unknown. And ye shall be free from slavery; and as a sign that ye be really free, ye shall be naked in your rites; and ye shall dance, sing, feast, make music and love, all in Her praise. For Hers is the ecstasy of the spirit, and Hers also is joy on earth; for Her law is love unto all beings. Keep pure your highest ideal; strive ever towards it; let naught stop you or turn you aside. For Hers is the secret door which opens upon the land of youth and Hers is the cup of wine of life, and the cauldron of Cerridwen, which is the Holy Grail of immortality. She is the gracious goddess, who gives the gift of joy unto the heart of man. Upon earth, She gave the knowledge of the spirit eternal; and beyond death, She gives peace and freedom, and reunion with those who have gone before. Nor does She demand sacrifice, for behold, She is the mother of all living, and Her love is poured out upon the earth.
She who is the beauty of the green earth, and the white moon among the stars, and the mystery of the
waters, and the desire of the heart of man, calls unto thy soul. Arise, and come unto Her. For She is the soul of nature, who gives life to the universe. from Her all things proceed, and unto Her all things must return; and before Her face, beloved of gods and men, let thine innermost divine self be enfolded in the rapture of the infinite. Let Her worship be within the heart that rejoiceth; for behold, all acts of love and pleasure are Her rituals. And therefore let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you. And thou who thinkest to seek Her, know thy seeking and yearning shall avail thee not unless thou knowest the mystery; that if that which thou seekest thou findest not within thee, then thou wilt never find it without thee. For behold, She has been with thee from the beginning; and She is that which is attained at the end of desire.
I [magical/pagan name] declare to the Goddess of my need [card 1]. I honor you with [card 2] once in the month, and better it be when the moon is full, for I value in others [card 3] and my secret place is [card 4].
I adore you for [card 5], Queen of all witches. I learn in my sorcery that [card 6] and its deepest secret, [card 7]. Teach me to know further about [card 8].
I shall be free of [card 9] and be more open in my [card 10]. I shall find enjoyment in [card 11]. I shall seek ecstasy and love in [card 12].
Let me see my highest ideal in [card 13] and strive ever towards it. I will not be stopped by [card 14]. The secret door is found in [card 15] and the wine of life is [card 16].
The mysteries of Life and Death are [card 17 + card 18] and held by you. My sacrifice is [card 19] yet of this you do not demand.
