The Oracle — Awakening Imagination Through the Tarot

And the new foundations and ways of seeing it brings...

~ Welcome to The Oracle, a monthly divination to open the archetypal field through a blend of tarot and dreamwork ~

I’ve long been drawn to intuitive practices and modalities that help one commune with the depths. I think it’s in my nature—I’m an INFJ, and since consciousness blossomed within, I’ve felt that there is more to life than what meets the eye. Concrete reality dissolves in the face of the unconscious and its mysterious expressions. Powerful dreams, psychic sight, and visions of sudden knowing have affirmed that the veil between worlds is indeed permeable.

At the age of 14 or so, I had my first tarot reading. The cards always entranced me; there was something about their strange yet familiar symbols that drew me in. Admittedly, in those early days, I didn’t understand the cards well. The Empress showed up often, and I felt fearful, wondering if somehow motherhood would find me earlier than I desired. The reader tsked, saying perhaps I would be giving form to some creative endeavor, not a physical child.

In retrospect, I think this was the archetypal presence of the Great Mother, a powerful force that would eventually bring a difficult but transformative reckoning 10 years later.

“Because the Tarot relies on the universal language of symbolism, its influence has, over several centuries, spread throughout the world unrestricted by language barriers or semantics. And, since symbolism is also the language of the unconscious, the use of the Tarot tends to activate the intuitive mind, or right-brain center.”

— Mary K. Greer, Tarot For Your Self

You see, too often we forget that the tarot emerged like a channeled dream from the roots of the collective unconscious. It is a language of symbols, of archetypal images. When we approach it through the day-world mind, trying to force it into strict categories, clear answers, and rationalizations, we undermine the bridge it creates between psychic layers of experience.

Tarot works most powerfully when it holds us in an archetypal constellation of imagistic wonder. Our inner and outer dynamics are expressed anew—in color, shape, and symbolic form. The grip of ego begins to loosen, and the incredible wisdom and insights that were lingering just under the surface begin to emerge.

For well over a decade, I’ve honed in on this approach to the cards. Situating them in the archetypal ground of the psyche, mining them for their psychological richness, it fast became one of the most impactful of my inner work tools.

This month, as we embark on a beginner’s path to meeting the tarot, let us hold this in mind:

The tarot profoundly awakens imagination; it connects us to the unconscious, so that we may better know ourselves and the path of individuation that is unfolding.

And now, let us turn towards The Oracle’s words as guidance for the weeks ahead…