learning tarot card meanings

Tarot in the Kitchen: The Magician

TarotBlending food and Tarot, this blog series takes a look at each Major Arcana and asks the question “what would this card be like in the kitchen and what food would they make?”

Cosmic Tarot
Cosmic Tarot

The Magician is part trickster, part seducer, part alchemist and nothing is more magical and seductive than delicious baking! Well, unless your gluten intolerant.

The fact that you can put a bunch of gross, globby dough or batter in a pan and then have the oven transform it into some puffy, buttery goodness is a thrilling concept.

All good cooks are magicians. And all good cookbooks are like magic books with spell-like recipes inside!

I have this one cookbook, called Let Them Eat Vegan and some of the recipes look like they would be super crappy – for example, walnuts, almond milk, rice pasta and broccoli were the main ingredients in the casserole I made last night. But guess what? That recipe turned out to be awesome! True alchemy!

So in the kitchen, The Magician chops, kneads and whisks with sexy confidence and mischievous charm. The sword is his knife, the wand his stir stick, the cup is his measuring cup and the pentacle is like a cookie cutter….or maybe one of those weird things people put in sugar jars to stop it clumping.

What does the Magician love to make? Mmmmmuffins! And here is a recipe that I’ve adapted from my Best of Bridge cookbook and have been making for years. Everyone is always really impressed when I make these and then I kind of feel guilty because they are so easy:

Magic Muffins

1 orange
1/2 cup orange juice
1 egg
1/4 cup oil (I like grapeseed)
1.5 cups whole spelt flour (but you could just use crappy white flour if you wanted to)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
handful of dried fruit of choice, chopped into bits (I like dried apricots or cherries)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. cut orange into 8 bits and blend in blender with orange juice, egg and oil until its smooth.

2. Add all other ingredients except dried fruit and nuts. Blend.

3. Now, add fruit and nuts and blend only a little – until it’s mixed.

4. Pour dough into a lined muffin tin (makes 12 muffins) and bake at 375F for 15-20 minutes.

Tarot in the Kitchen: The Magician Read More »

Trouble learning the Tarot Card Meanings? Try this!

Here is a question that I often get asked:

Q: I am having trouble learning the Tarot card meanings. It’s a boring process and I can never remember the meanings. Do I really need to learn them? Or can I just learn to read “intuitively”?

A: Reading Tarot “intuitively” without first learning the structure of Tarot and the card meanings is kind of like visiting a foreign country without learning the language.

Sure you will be able to get by with charades style communication and drawing pictures, but things won’t be smooth and you will feel like a total moron! Even learning a few key words and phrases can make a world of difference.

This is what I have found to be true….

1. Tarot is like a language – its a way for you to communicate with spirit and with your Inner Self.

2. Sometimes there is real value in tossing the “traditional” Tarot meanings aside to explore the cards more deeply and engage my intuition as I interact with the card figures, symbols, etc.

But…

3. The traditional card meaning always acts as a trigger or a doorway into my inner, intuitive landscape.

doorway-crete

So while you don’t need to learn the Tarot card meanings in order to get guidance from your Tarot cards, your readings will take on a richer, more grounded quality when you do.

But if learning the Tarot card meanings feels boring to you, I suggest you vamp up the way you study your Tarot cards.

One of the techniques I love to teach is the “creating a story/character” approach.

Here’s how it works:

Step one: Choose a Tarot card that features a person.

Any court card will work good for this, as will Major arcana cards like The Magician or The Empress.

For this exercise I am going to be working with the Knight of Pentacles from the Crystal Visions Tarot.

knight of pents
Crystal Visions Tarot

Step two: Consider the traditional meaning of this card.

The Crystal Visions companion book describes the Knight of Pentacles as being “cautious, thoughtful and hardworking” with an “all work and no play” attitude.

Step three: flesh out the character by imagining other details and quirks.

I bet this Knight is the kind of guy who loves to read non-fiction and will spout off “facts” about things at dinner parties.

I suspect he’s also rather boring between the sheets.

But I also think he would make a mean apple pie and is particularly talented when it comes to making curries and casseroles and stuff like that. Yum!

Step four: Imagine a backstory & create a history for your character.

When I imagine the Knight of Pentacles as a real person, I see him working in a “safe”, repetitive job – like a factory or office.

His home life growing up was average and uninteresting, but then he met the love of his life and suddenly everything changed. He had never been happier.

But he was slow in proposing to her and she ended up running off with a rich playboy on a yacht in the Bahamas. That was years ago, but his heart still aches, so he wears a thick layer of emotional armor….etc, etc…I could go on all day.

What’s the point of all this? you may be wondering…

When we craft our own stories about the Tarot cards, we are adding our own creative spice to our studies.

Not only will you now have an easier time remembering the meaning of The Knight of Pentacles, or whatever card you chose to do this exercise with, but you will feel like you know this dude and he’s no longer a stranger on a Tarot card.

In the comments below, tell me….

What card did you pick for this exercise and what sordid personality quirks did you uncover? I can’t wait to read your response 🙂

Trouble learning the Tarot Card Meanings? Try this! Read More »

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