symbol and Tarot
Here is a brief bit from the upcoming Tarot class I am teaching in West Seattle. There are still 2 spaces open if you'd like to join. It starts Monday night (july 21st)
Since language can be limiting and it is sometimes difficult to articulate spiritual journey in linear form, we are now seeing a resurgence of symbol as expression in the western world. As people delve into new experiences, many are finding that our current languages lack words to describe these events. To be able to communicate the “unspeakable,” people are turning to and rediscovering systems of symbolic language such as the I Ching, the Tarot, runes and astrology. “To the imagination the sacred is self-evident,” Nietzsche said. It is to the imagination that symbols speak, our focus should be learning to play again as we discover new ways to communicate with each other.
Symbols are rich channels of information. Determining the meaning held within them is a journey of personal discovery. No two people will ever view the same symbol in quite the same way. We each have our own life story behind us that adds to our experience and interpretation. Mythologist Joseph Campbell once remarked that those who do not know that symbols hold hidden meaning are “like diners going into the restaurant and eating the menu rather than the meal it describes.” The soul thinks in symbols. It is not literal-minded. It is play minded.
We sense that metaphor and symbol is a pathway to discovering, really discovering, ancient archetypes that hold the keys to personal transformation. Tools like the labyrinth, the tarot, and others can help you walk a path of deeper understanding, linking you to the collective unconscious and leading you to rediscover a life with more play and less “reality.”
Adapted from Walking a Sacred Path, by Lauren Altress
Since language can be limiting and it is sometimes difficult to articulate spiritual journey in linear form, we are now seeing a resurgence of symbol as expression in the western world. As people delve into new experiences, many are finding that our current languages lack words to describe these events. To be able to communicate the “unspeakable,” people are turning to and rediscovering systems of symbolic language such as the I Ching, the Tarot, runes and astrology. “To the imagination the sacred is self-evident,” Nietzsche said. It is to the imagination that symbols speak, our focus should be learning to play again as we discover new ways to communicate with each other.
Symbols are rich channels of information. Determining the meaning held within them is a journey of personal discovery. No two people will ever view the same symbol in quite the same way. We each have our own life story behind us that adds to our experience and interpretation. Mythologist Joseph Campbell once remarked that those who do not know that symbols hold hidden meaning are “like diners going into the restaurant and eating the menu rather than the meal it describes.” The soul thinks in symbols. It is not literal-minded. It is play minded.
We sense that metaphor and symbol is a pathway to discovering, really discovering, ancient archetypes that hold the keys to personal transformation. Tools like the labyrinth, the tarot, and others can help you walk a path of deeper understanding, linking you to the collective unconscious and leading you to rediscover a life with more play and less “reality.”
Adapted from Walking a Sacred Path, by Lauren Altress
posted by Amy Goetz at
8:48 PM
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