by Marcus Katz
With the help of the dragon you are healed in an enchanted forest.
When you are recovered you are invited by the Queen of Coins, the guardian of the enchanted forest. She reminds of of your Mother, the Empress, and she gifts you with a golden egg to help you survive in the wider world to which you have to pass now through the Gate leading away from the Garden.
The cards add up to XI - Justice: The works done out of compassion, though they seemed a deviation or hold-up at the time, brought ultimately the reward of (inner) peace, healing and strength.
Both paths such have the numerical value of 2, which relates them to the High Priestess, which symbolizes the “enchanted garden” of a closed-off otherworld and the secret which opens its doors.
Conclusion
Exercises in making connections can prove to unlock creative thinking but also practice us in connection-making during readings. Whilst we make such connections, we might also sense emergent patterns, which we will explore as we progress through this gated spread. This particular garden spread is a useful change from fixed meaning spreads.
There are many ways of learning pattern recognition, narrative, the oracular voice and more and these are more fully explored in Tarosophy, the book.
Garden of Creation: Gate 2
Stepping Stones
Illustration: Stepping Stones.
This is the second gate of our Garden of Creation experience, and is called “Stepping Stones”. Here we will take a more linear path through our garden, using the types of cards as stepping stones to take us from one element of a creation to another. This is most suitable for creating a novel, so have fun!
The Stepping Stones
1. Split your deck into three piles containing the 22 Majors in one, the 56 Minors in another and the 16 Court Cards in the third. Shuffle each deck and lay them face‐down. Select cards from the appropriate pile as indicated below to create the cards for your story.
2. The first card, choose from the Court Card pile. This is the Hero(ine), and depicts his ordinary life. What sort of character is he (or she) and what sort of life does he lead?
3. The next card is a Major card and is the call to adventure. What changes in this person’s life to start them on their journey?
4. The next card is a Minor card and is the nature of their refusal to go on this journey, engage with this event or opportunity. What do they do? How do they respond?
5. The next card, a Court Card (or you can select a Major Card) shows their Mentor. Who or What encourages them, teaches them, provokes them to change, and how?
6. The next card, a Minor, shows the first threshold that must be crossed, to enter a different world.
7. The next three cards (choose from any pile) indicates the tests, allies and enemies they encounter in this new situation.
8. The next card, a Major, shows the next threshold and the nature of the inmost cave – the secret heart of this story, a revelation, where they encounter the ordeal (select a Minor or Major card) and gain the reward (select a Minor or Major card).
9. They then take the road back to their starting‐point (choose a Minor card) and cross a third threshold experiencing a transformation or resurrection. Finally, they return with a boon or elixir, a philosopher’s stone and gift to bring to their previous situation. This is indicated by the final card, a Major.
This sequence is based on the mythic journey, or hero’s journey described by Joseph Campbell and recast in contemporary style for authors, playwrights and screenwriters in Christopher Vogler’s The Writers Journey.
Creating Your Story
You may wish to refer back to your notes from the garden plan and see if the “thematic elements” which arose from your connecting the cards in that spread can provide an underpinning for your story in “stepping stones”.
This is one of the many ways in which Gated Spreads are not like other spreads – they are specifically designed in reverse from a final destination, so that each gate feeds into another, and just doing one in the middle will not be as effective as meeting the gates challenges in sequence. In this sense, of course, each spread and gated spread sequence is a journey!
Here is an example from the notes of a student using the unusual deck, the Tarot of the Silicon Dawn.
My first card is the Progeny (Page) of the Void. She just wants to get the hell out of there. It's no place to live - it's nowhere at all. Life is bleak and dark, with nothing to look forward to. The only possible option is escape. (Or, to quote Beavis and Butthead, "this sucks. Change it!")
Next is the Fool (the wintery one): The Fool doesn't know where she's going, but anything is better than staying here. The only thing to do is to strike off for the unknown! Will she realize she has those wings? The dark shadows of the cliff she's on suggest the darkness of the void.
Resistance: 6 of Cups: Not sure what to make of this; I could say the resistance is about being comfortable in the familiar but so far the familiar has not looked especially comfortable. But the unknown can be scary... Maybe cups = emotions/feelings that perhaps it isn't so bad? Perhaps fear of going wild after finally leaving the void behind? None of my interpretations are terribly satisfactory, because there is really nothing keeping the her in the void, except perhaps perception.
P of Wands: This is all about springing forth into the natural world, birthing one's self, coming to LIFE! Having come from out of nowhere, thriving and blossoming, like a sprout pushing up through the soil. As a helper, since they are both Progeny it could be another young adventurer - someone who knows about the natural world, how to forage for food etc, and who offers her encouragement and advice. Besties. But perhaps someone who can't come along on the journey - she is rooted where she is. The blackness of space doesn't bother her as she is strong and vibrant and her energy comes from within.
6 of Swords: The hacker card. Best get ready! Gear must be gathered and prepped! You don't want to go out into the world unprepared. Here's where you could put in a montage if this were a movie. ;-)
Tests, allies, enemies:
Empress, 0 of Void, P of Cups, 5 of Cups:
I'm having a hard time seeing the Empress as a test. Perhaps the test is that our hero must become her own Empress, but she doesn't know how. That's the point of this journey, to go from nothingness to lush embodiment. But from the beginning, it seems unachievable - an impossible quest. She looms so far above! Is she wearing a mask? Can our hero even see her goal?
0 of Void shows a white butterfly fluttering across the blackness. Drawing unexpected strength from where she came from - using her knowledge of the void to help herself escape it.
Progeny of Cups - another ally. She knows her way around out there, and she is warm and welcoming. Buddy sequence in a film!
5 of Cups - another challenge. Don't get carried away! Hang on if you are going to fly! Or perhaps the P of Cups wasn't as friendly as she appeared. In any case, her attempt to help has had unanticipated consequences, and our hero once more travels on her own.
Fortitude (aka Strength). Our hero will have to find her way through a strange place, guarded by a lion and a six armed goddess who is also holding up the roof. Definitely a threshold! But unlike the Empress, where she loomed over us, we're on the same plane with this card.
The ordeal: Ace of Cups. A pregnant mermaid with two sets of breasts and a boa. I'm going to go all old-school here and say that the ordeal will have to do with getting in touch with her emotional side and not just being a rootless adventurer. And also this ties back in with the 6C as "resistance" in that she knew her journey would inevitably bring her here and she didn't want to have to deal with it, even though she had to get out of the void. In the void, you feel nothing. Beyond it, there is a risk of feeling too much.
The reward: The Hermit. Having found the fortitude necessary to face her own inner emotions, she is now comfortable within herself and has no need of assistance from anyone else. Her inner light glows as she continues her adventure, on her own terms.
The road back: 8 of Wands. Going underground. Unaffected by storms outside, planning and orchestrating the next step. Returning to the void but in her own way, on her own terms. Prepared and ready; strong.
Final card: The Magician. Our hero is now fully conversant in the ways of the underworld and the overworld. The void might not be so dark if you have a candle (or your own light).
Conclusion
We can utilize the cards in specific ways to creative dramatic narratives. These are seen in multiple aspects, where the Majors are archetypal forces at play, the Minors the events in everyday life manifesting those forces and acting as teachers, and the Court Cards personalities embodying these archetypal energies in mixed characters.
Whilst practicing creating these stories in this manner, you are also unconsciously learning (“installed”) a new sense of how these cards represent these elements in a spread for a divination. You may find your ability to read cards progressively increasing and deepening as you practice these gates.
There is a universal story pattern which is the “Mono-myth” and all our lives partake of this mythic structure which is revealed in stories and any creative act. You may find that your garden plan and stepping stones already reveal a lot about your own story.
Ga rden of Creation: Gate 3
Talking Fountain
Illustration. The Talking Fountain.
This is the third gate of our Garden of Creation experience, and is called “The Talking Fountain”. You’ll find this part of the journey in our garden somewhat different again from the stepping stones and the plan, as it is even more freeform.
In this gate, we start to build some dialogue, rather than connection and narrative, with the cards themselves. So find your favorite or most mystifying deck, and prepare to find its voice.
The Talking Fountain
Take your deck and shuffle it. Turn it face-down.
Ask one of the following questions (or your own variation if one comes to mind):
1. What sort of story is my life?
2. What kind of magic are you?
3. When the Universe Talks, What is its Tale?
4. What will the world or people grow into?
5. What is being created?
These all represent different aspects of “dialogue” which occurs when we read Tarot, perform an astrological consultation or other divination. We have multiple dialogues – conversations – with our deck, our own response, the client, sometimes divine sources and sometimes the symbols and associations of the deck. These questions are based on each aspect of dialogue – 1, You; 2, Tarot; 3, Universe; 4, Others; 5, Creation.
Now turn up the first card. Imagine that all these five aspects are answering the one question you have chosen, through the card, you, the Universe, etc. Hear what the card answers – actually hear it as dialogue.
So I might have asked, “What is being created” and the first card is the Knight of Coins in my Golden Deck by Kat Black.
I might hear, “A single world is being created, slowly, over immense periods of time. My horse is Matter and the muzzled dog is Time. We seek slowly. I hold aloft the staff of spirit, of ascent, but it is carried along by creation itself …”
Now ask another question, or enter into dialogue with the deck in response to this first card, by making your own statement, question or interruption.
I might say, “Well, that’s all very interesting, but what about God?”
Then pick the next card. I pick the 5 of Wands. Hear what it has to tell you …
“God is chaos and confusion, the constant turmoil of life, building to an unknown plan. The cockerel crows for the sun, but time moves on swiftly and nothing is ever complete.”
And continue the dialogue – “Ahah? So you are saying there is no plan?”
10 of Swords: “Everything has been fixed and fated. The dog of time comes to chew on the corpse of matter. You cannot escape what is being created out of yourself.”
“Oh, well that sounds bleak –“
8 of Cups: “It is. In the ruins of your own plans you can only hope to pass through unscathed and not get trapped by distractions. Only by movement can you avoid noticing the darkness.”
And so on. Have a good old talk with your Tarot – hopefully not as morose or as stern a voice as the Golden Deck gave me on this occasion!
If you wish, share your conversation with others on the forum, in brief.
Conclusion
There are many ways to engage with Tarot, but in each we find ourselves in dialogue between multiple aspects. Learning to listen to Tarot as well as see the symbols is an important part of developing our relationship to our own inner voice and oracular talent.
Garden of Creation: Gate 4
Labyrinth
Illustration. The Labyrinth.
This is the fourth and final gate of our Garden of Creation experience, and is called “The Labyrinth”. You’ll find this part of the journey in our garden somewhat different again from the previous fountain, stepping stones, and the plan, as it is a far more spiritual and deep exercise.
You will see, however, that it draws upon each of the previous gates – you have been practicing and preparing for this final gate in each of those exercises.
In this gate, we apply the lesser-known technique of lectio divina, or ‘spirit reading’ to the Tarot to create our own secret story. This technique is centuries old, used within the Christian tradition, and gained a place in contemplative practice following its promotion by Saint Benedict in the 6th Century.
We will combine this technique’s 4 steps with our previous gates and the Tarot in reaching a conclusion of the “Garden of Creation” experience.
The Labyrinth of You
The lectio divina has four stages, usually applied to reading scripture, but here we apply to reading Tarot and through that, the Universe of ourself.
Take your deck and shuffle it, asking the question:
“What is my secret story – the true narrative of my soul, and the creation I am?”
Take out the top ten cards, as we did with the plan. Lay them out in any pattern.
Read them as your own life story, not in sequence, but as they fork out and connect together in whatever patterns arise. Allow them to suggest to you (as you learnt in the Talking Fountain exercise) what they are telling you in dialogue, and do not question.
This is lectio, reading. Take time to find out a few more meanings of the cards from any reference materials you have to hand, make notes as if in study of a novel.
Your Life Pathways
Now contemplate the connections between the cards, the hidden links of the labyrinth. This is the meditatio. Allow your eye to roam over your entire life plan laid out in the cards until you find yourself gravitating to any particular point – usually between a “constellation” of cards. This may not be in the centre of your garden labyrinth, but you will know it when you find it – you may have even sensed it as soon as the cards were laid out in the original pattern.
Illustration. The Labyrinth.
Allow your inner spirit to respond to the walking of the labyrinth. If you know any trance techniques, apply them – burn incense or play music whilst you perform this.
We would recommend an hour for this part of the practice – don’t rush it, it is your life.
Allow yourself to write on these connections and where the centre is found in some poetic or pleasing manner. You may choose to write in a spiral or unusual script.
Entering into Sacred Dialogue
Illustration. Further into the Labyrinth.
We now take a profound step in our Tarot work. Take a moment – and this step can follow after a day break from the previous step – and gaze upon your labyrinth cards whilst beginning to go over every painful memory and hurt, embarrassment and regret you have experienced.
As you do, and the old feelings arise, offer them into the cards as they are set in place before you.
Begin to enter into dialogue (as you
learnt in the Talking Fountain) with the cards as a whole – as a divine tool of dialogue with Universe – and allow them to offer healing words in response to your troubles. This is oratio, a consecration prayer.
Use the connections you have discovered to contextualize these events in your life, as learning, as constructive paths of the labyrinth, with its secret centre – yourself – gently open and revealed within.
The Labyrinth Complete
Whilst the garden paths fork in an endless labyrinth, we are our own centre when discovered in the heart of the narrative we weave. In the next few days following this experience, do not return to the cards but rather observe your life in their revealed wisdom – this is the final stage of contemplatio in the technique.
Experience the living divine wisdom of the Tarot – what we term Tarosophy, to look into the deeper patterns and structures of Universe which we are merely the arising images – as is the Tarot.
Conclusion
The gates in this particular spread were constructed to generate the necessary practices and attitudes to engage in the final practice of lectio divina. This is a deep practice and rarely explored in Tarot, so you may be interested in pursuing this practice in your Tarot work and beyond.
Your life is a Garden of Forking Paths only whilst you believe in Time and experience it in a linear fashion – Tarot offers a tool to transcend this state and is one of the more profound utilizations of Tarot beyond its common usage.
