Miss Fiona's Tea-break Tarot School

In the last post we looked at telling the story in one card, exploring colours, images, the characters and possibilities seen there.

In this lesson we’ll look at working with two or more cards.

Begin by choosing two cards at random and set them side by side. Now imagine that these are two images in a story book, or still frames from a movie.

Repeat the exercise that you worked with previously (here) working with both cards.

In the first frame the story begins in the second it continues or we see a conclusion. Remember this can be as creative as you like. Free associating with the words that the images inspire, or with quotations or songs that spring to mind, helps us to construct our own meaning, and a “reading” that is both unique and drawn from our own experience.

How would you tell the story of these two cards?

For me this carries the energy of Romeo and Juliet, star-crossed lovers blocked by parental disapproval.

If I take that tale further into a reading, I would get a sense, from my story, of passion blocked by structures. Perhaps the desire to create blocked by the “ought” of being sensible and plugging in to the 9 – 5, an either/ or dichotomy.

Once you feel confident with your two frame story extend it to three with a traditional beginning/ middle/ end format.

You can turn this into a tarot game with one or more friends, each picking a card and telling the next part of the story, like the game Consequences…let your imagination run free!

All of these practices help you to connect to your cards and to your own innate storytelling abilities, they break down the barriers we often live with around “getting it right” or the “true meanings” of things, and allow our intuition and creativity to flow.

If you’re enjoying these posts then please do come and join us in the Tea Break Tarot group. It is a safe and inclusive space run by a queer witch for tarot mavens and explorers alike. Looking forward to welcoming you.

When I was a primary school teacher story time was my favourite part of the day.

We’d get the class tidy and the children would come and sit on the carpet and choose a story (or three) for me to read to them. It was a gathered moment at the end of the day, a space when we could all have a few quieter moments after the busy work of learning.

Stories are a core part of human experience. We have been telling each other stories for thousands of years, drawing them on cave walls and in temples. Stories allow us to weave our histories, shape our own stories and experiences. Folk and fairy stories speak of the unspeakable, capturing the longing for understanding of our origins and exploring the mysteries of conscious existence.

For me story telling is a core part of tarot reading. The cards are the pictures in a cosmic storybook encouraging me to weave a narrative. When we read cards it becomes an art, a craft. To read tarot in this way allows for the interplay, the interweaving, of creative flow and intuitive insights. It binds common human experiences together and anchors them in the specific circumstances of our question or our querent’s query.

Practicum:

I first found a version of this exercise first Mary K.Greer’s 21 Ways to read a tarot card. I find it a great way to start readings, the process of detailing the card begins to get the creativity and intuition flowing and paves the way for deeper insights and messages to come through.

Pull a card at random. What can you see? What objects are there? Describe them in as much detail as possible.

Who is in the picture? What are they doing? Why might that be? How might they be feeling?

What else is going on? For instance here I am struck by the waterfall in the background. What would that sound like? What does it suggest to you? How would it be to stand in the meadow with this Empress, what sounds might be around you?

Now tell a story from this one card you have drawn. Give the figures in the card names, describe the setting, describe the emotional colour of the card, explain what is happening and what they will do next.

Your story can be as silly or sensible as you like. We aren’t seeking to create a fixed “truth” but to explore the emotional and experiential connections that arise from this card. Allowing ourselves to tell stories plugs into a sense of creativity and flow which unpicks the ruled lines of our book learning and rigid education-system experiences and allows us to connect to older ways of knowing and understanding.

We will be exploring this further in the next “lesson”.

Welcome to part two of Tea Break Tarot School.

This is a free tarot school hosted in blog format. We began in January 2019 and posts to date have covered tarot basics and taken us on a journey through each of the seventy-eight cards in the deck.

In part two you are invited to join us for “afternoon tea.” The focus now shifts from studying individual cards to combining them into readings, creating spreads and moving on to aspects for consideration when reading for others.

Now is a good time to take an inventory of your tarot journey so far. Tidy your decks, review your notebooks. If you are joining us for the first time you can find an index of previous posts here .

This is a self-paced course with the aim of creating an accessible route into tarot for anyone who is keen to learn.

If you would like to join with other tarot students then you will be most welcome in the Facebook group.

And if you have any questions you can contact me via my website.

Looking forward to the next part of the journey 🙂

We have cleared the walls of our imaginary class. You have your books packed up and have swapped numbers and IG accounts with others from the class.

I am brewing us a final cup of tea.

Today we close this part of our work together.

During the past eighteen months (at the time of writing) we have considered what tarot is, how to create sacred space and daily practice, we have explored the elements and their connection with tarot and travelled through the Major and Minor Arcana together.

I intend to continue to post here occasionally moving forward. For now it is time for a well-earned summer break.

If you would like to come and join the group of “real” people in the Tea Break Tarot School Facebook group you would be most welcome.

And if you would like to take your tarot studies further you can join me on Patreon for the Diving Deeper tarot class.

If I don’t see you in person I wish you well on your tarot journey and look forward to meeting with you again soon xxx

Our trip to the beach is coming to a close. We are beginning to pack up our things, make sure all the rubbish is in the bin, try to get sand out of our toes.

Our final study of the day is the King of Cups. He is a male energy. He’s been back and forth to the shore all day, checking the Page is safe, showing an interest in her findings, or having a quiet word when the Knight is getting a little over-rowdy.

He is with the Queen now, smiling, like his partner he is a master of emotions. Maybe he is a psychology professor, a coach or a meditation teacher. He has achieved mastery and control of emotions. Perhaps we are watching him now as he works through T’ai Chi forms near the shoreline.

In a reading the King may represent someone you know of this type, or can represent a call to work with this energy.

Emotional “mastery” can seem like an oxymoron, emotions are by their nature fluid and like the waves we have been watching today ebb and flow.

We can support our own emotional life through practices like mindfulness or working with acceptance and commitment therapy. Using our thoughts to help us understand our emotional responses is a powerful practice.

We watch now as he finishes his practice and calls the younger members of the family out of the water. His partner is gathering her work things together and as they prepare to depart the sands so do we, our journey through the cards is coming to an end.

Exercise 92:

How do you “manage” the ebb and flow of emotion, what tools do you use to support you on a daily basis?

If you find your emotions can be a “rollercoaster” see if a mood tracker or moon planner are supportive in helping identify patterns.

Explore practices such as mindfulness as you connect and work with your emotional life.

If you don’t already see if journalling in some form (including micro-blogging and bullet point journalling) can support you.

Wow, it’s getting warm.

We are still on our imaginary seaside trip with the class. Some of us have been working on an epic sandcastle, while others have been collecting shells. We sent someone to get ice-creams and they dropped one and a seagull ate it.

Our next study is the Queen of Cups.

She is seated in a deckchair, sunglasses on. She is smiling as she watches the younger members of her family enjoying the water. She has been swimming earlier herself, like a porpoise, but now she’s got her laptop out and she’s getting on with some work.

I think she’s probably a counselor or therapist, perhaps she’s a psychic or an agony aunt writing a column for a magazine.

She is self-possessed and emotionally grounded. She has done the self-development work herself, she knows what makes her tick. She is compassionate and equally brooks no nonsense. She will listen with love in her eyes and then tell you exactly what game you’re playing and suggest tools to help you get out of your bind.

The Queen might refer to a woman of your acquaintance in a reading, or may be a call to embody this kind of energy.

She holds the energy of inner work, of self-knowledge and self-exploration. For those of us exploring a mystical path she is a great ally to support us as we strengthen our intuition.

Exercise 91:

Take some time to explore your personality type to connect with Queen of Cups energy; perhaps start with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or Enneagram; what does this bring up which resonates/ challenges you?

Seek to embody the Queen of Cups for others by practising active listening.

How can you fulfil the role of the Queen of Cups for yourself; how can you use your intuition to be your own guide?

How are you enjoying our trip to the seaside?

I hope you don’t have sand in your sandwiches; maybe later we’ll get ice-cream…

The Knight of Cups is the next member of the family who comes into view. He is a younger person. Likely in his teens or early twenties. He has brought some friends with him and they are out in the surf with body boards. Such larks.

There’s a feel of recklessness in this energy, a desire to be seen and also to push at boundaries. He looks like he’d be fun to hang out with, but maybe not always the most sensible of souls. He is John Cusack in the Sure Thing or Say Anything, hopelessly romantic.

As with the Page when you pull this card in a reading it could refer to someone of this age group in your life, or is a call to plug into this energy. In romance or relationships it could be a call to re-embrace the energy of young love, to be prepared to take risks.

It could also be a warning that someone you’re involved in is moving too fast, or throwing caution to the winds and a little temperance is needed.

If the Knight of Cups shows up in your reading you can be sure that things are going to get moving one way or another.

Exercise 90:

Watch a cheesy rom-com and see if you can spot the Knight of Cups.

Can you remember what it felt like the first time you fell in love, or discovered a passion in your life? Reconnect with that energy, feel how it moves through your whole being creating energy.

Write a dating profile for the Knight of Cups; who would they be looking for to partner with? What would be their key characteristics, strengths and weaknesses?

Today our class is taking a trip to the beach. You hold the picnic blanket, I’ll bring the sandwiches. She has the chairs and he has the windbreak. It’s going to be epic.

To work with the court cards for the Cups we’re going to observe them on a family day out at the seaside.

The Page is the youngest. She is around four, or maybe seven. Not past the age of loving Christmas, not yet cynical. Full of energy, keen to explore.

See her now down at the shoreline with her toes in the waves, jumping over each as it comes in, then losing herself in collecting seashells or exploring rock pools.

The Page of Cups brings a child-like energy. We can read this card as referring to a child in our lives, perhaps we work with children, or have nephews, nieces or children of our own.

We can also read it as a call to embody and embrace this kind of energy. If we are feeling emotionally blocked or there is emotional heaviness this card calls us to reconnect with the spirit of playfulness.

Maybe we are looking for a new love, this card would suggest that we need to start by finding someone we can enjoy spending time with, someone who is happy to join us in a game of crazy golf or build a sandcastle with us.

When we are facing emotional challenges it asks us to keep it simple, remember what made us happy or brought us comfort when we were smaller humans and use that to get us through.

Exercise 89:

To connect with Page of Cups energy engage with any kind of water based activity; kayak, paddle, swim, take a bath with a rubber duck, have a water fight, go rockpooling, visit a local river or stream to watch wildlife, go pond dipping.

The end of the story. A family share a picnic beside a stream. A couple walk hand in hand into the sunset, or sit together in a bower.

This card reminds me of the end of the movie. The lovers finally admit how they feel and kiss, or get married. The struggling young intern gets a promotion. The team wins the prize.

It’s a classic happy ending. Perhaps even the kind we aspire to.

In a reading you might read about fulfilment, contentment, the sense that everything has come up roses, blessings are overflowing.

The ten brings us to the end of the pips for this suit. As the final card it is also the jumping off point for the next cycle. One season closes, another begins.

Nothing lasts forever.

While we may be in the happily ever after moment, I always wonder what happens next? That couple who we saw at the end of the movie getting married, what would life be like for them after the honeymoon, when the world gets back to normal? The family by the riverside, do they argue in the car on the way home?

We can relax and enjoy the Ten of Cups, and knowing it is only a moment makes the enjoyment all the sweeter.

Exercise 88:

Recall your “happy” moments; who were you with? How did it feel? Plug into this memory to help you understand this card.

How do you feel in one of these moments? How do you manage the ebb and flow of life’s joys and sorrows?

Is there an action you can take today to share the Ten of Cups feeling with others, make someone a cuppa at work? Gift a friend some flowers? Make a positive comment on someone’s post?

Today let’s raise a glass.

Look at how far we’ve come!

This card for me is one of contentment and completion.

In the traditional RWS deck a man sits with arms folded, nine golden cups arrayed behind him.  He looks successful.  He has his cups in a row, so to speak.  The hard work and challenges are overcome, for a moment all is as it should be.

In a reading this card speaks of emotional abundance, of having done the inner work and come, for a time, to a place of peace.  The journey made by leaving the eight and choosing a new direction has paid off.  For this moment you can rest.

As a nine it is the culmination of the three cycles of three journeyed through in the suit.  A completion, the circle closed.

Allow yourself a moment of celebration, gratitude, acknowledge the journey you’ve made, breathe into the wholeness of this space.

Exercise 87

Take an inventory of your journey to this point with tarot, and through life. Note the challenges you’ve faced, the obstacles you’ve overcome.

Now take a moment to decide what you’d like to come next; where would you like to go from here?  What comes next for you on this path?

If youre looking for a community to share your tarot journey with come and join our Facebook group.