My personal go-to card spread is based on the Sun Lodge spread and the Celtic Cross. It’s a spiral pattern culminating in a right-handed staff, which represents the elements, Western metaphysical correspondences and the Celtic Pagan year wheel. The the spiral represents body, mind, spirit, emotions and center while the staff position is a riff on the Celtic Cross, a past, present and future guide meant to further illuminate the spiral energies that are happening now.

In this spread, the 6th card or “handle” of the staff represents the past but upon meditation seems to mirror the 8th card, the “crown” which is the future. This alignment shows us the past and the future in one transcendent beautiful representation. The physical and the illuminated appear separately in the reading but whether or not they are behind or in front of us depends on our present state of mind now. If we can experience them together — bind two opposites into alchemic equilibrium we can bring clarity, power and joyful expansion of consciousness to the present. THEN we can better navigate our ever-moving present joyfully. This card mirrors the Guardian Angel or soul card in the center of the the spiral spread ( see part I).

Looking up and down at the staff, the images of past and future mirror each other as wisdom that can only be lived by way of the the present. What to make of that single drop of life-giving water in a field of space or ocean or air or all three that is the Raven Prophesy card of the present position? It’s art! Like the Voyager card in the spiral spread reminds us. The present moment is the canvas of this reality. Its mastery lies in balancing stillness and movement, idea and intuition, rationality and creativity and practical efficacy and imagination in this sacred present moment NOW! We are guided to pay attention to opportunities in front of our noses. Don’t dwell in pasts that are gone and futures that are still in the undefine mists of our timeline but draw from them to masterfully navigate the now.

As I meditated on this I saw the past and the future as the same energy from different points of view. I was a yoga teacher for a decade so this Tree Pose in the upper position is really the Alpha and the Omega for me in this reading. It offers guidance on how to become the transcendent soul being that wants to awaken within me. I get the lesson that I NEED TO TAKE THE POSE. DUH. Stand in it and adapt the attitude of yogic balance. Fake it till you make it. Practice. I love the humor of spirit that always comes through Tarot when YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO and then asks are you brave enough to do it or are ye gonna whine? Touche.

The entire reading reminded me of the Spider medicine from Jamie Sams’ Medicine Cards. I use this deck every day to get energetic guidance as I go out into the mundane world — into my life where I work at the clown car company and meeting all the other souls navigating this strange, beautiful and terrifying dynamic reality. Spider teaches us to sit at the core center of our existence, to pay attention and balance all the vibrations we experience every second. That is the mastery of the Temperance card, I think. That is the sacred balance I am striving for.

Everything in Tarot is borrowed from others’ work. There is truly nothing original because it is bank of collective dynamic ancestral wisdom -archetypes, myth, lore, rite, psychology and metaphysical laws passed through generations and shapeshifting as it transforms. It is in the interpretation of the Tarot that is dynamic: how do we make sense of the human experience within the sacredness of transformational natural law in which we are born from the invisible, grow, mature, learn, age, decay and die to pass back through the ancestral from which we originated. This is the sacred game of life and Tarot can be a joyful, illuminating and accurate guide for exploration of these mysteries.

Here are the decks I used with gratitude and joy in my heart:

Thoth Tarot – I prefer this deck to the Rider-Waite as my daily driver. Lady Frieda and Crowley’s work seems more universal to me then the kinda cryptic and dismal original Rider deck, though that deck birthed many beautiful derivatives that I use and appreciate.

The Fountain Tarot – I love the art Jonatham Saiz on these cards because they are so luminescent and capture a spiritual, almost devic energy. They cut to the chase in a very Aquarian way.

Voyager Tarot – James Wanless’s collage art is unique offers a new perspective not grounded in the traditional symbology. It’s also very Aquarian to me because the connections of the images are gestalt and unencumbered.

The Wildwood Tarot (link broken) is the work of John Matthews, a Celtic shamanic practitioner and scholar. If you feel the call of the forest and the intelligence of the life abounding within, you’ll like these cards. Plus his system of interpretation is a sophisticated exploration of ancestral Pagan lore and traditions. He is an Elder Master and his work is worth lifetimes of study.

Viceversa Tarot (just google this one) is a double-sided deck that offers new insights and avenues of interpretation. Dual views of the same energies. It’s really beautiful with a rich mythic vibe. Lunaea Weatherstone is a pioneer in the witchy spiritual field of retrieving lost ancestral wisdom. She knows her stuff.

Everyday Witch Tarot (just google this one too) plays upon the classic mythic witch theme (which I adore) with a lightheartedness and a practical intelligence. I find these cards helpful when I need a quick look at mundane matters of daily life. Annoyingly accurate at times and very cute.

The Raven’s Prophesy Tarot is a deck by writer and artist Maggie Stiefvater. The deck is derivative but the art is unique in that it doesn’t focus on the usual Tarot symbols that make the cards universal. I both like that and get annoyed at it. But it’s beautifully dark while being illuminated and the messages kinda hit like a blade.

Gendron Tarot (google) is Melanie Gendron’s gorgeously exquisite deck that is full of illuminated Faery/angelic sophisticated imagery. I find it trancey and Aquarian in that is both future and past forward. I actually have had this gem for years and just rediscovered it during my current spiritual inquiry.

Medicine Cards: The Discovery of Power Through the Ways of Animals is an oracle deck of combined Indigenous knowledge that is my personal favorite. I use it every day. The animal intelligence imparted in these cards is kind and synchronistically on point. Jamie Sams’ Sun Lodge spread informs my Spiral exploration of Tarot. You know the multiverse is alive and talking to you when you work with these cards.

We invoke peace, balance and fortitude. We are gonna make it. Stay true to your core self. Try to discover what you are here to be and do and take comfort in nature. Blessings to all relations, ancestors, our beloved dead and all sentient beings. Namaste! and blessings from the Blue Dog Temple!