Reading Responsibly:  The Nature of Symbols

By Peggy Firth, CTM

Have you ever looked around and noticed the things you have collected or amassed throughout your life? What is your work environment like, and what kind of friends and family do you have? Such things are symbolic of your thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes about life. The same can be said for the images that you notice when you read the cards for yourself and for others –what we see is symbolic of our own perceptions. Most people tend to look outward, blaming circumstances or other people for their problems; they have never learned about their own creative powers. I feel it is our job to teach some of these lessons as we read the cards. 

In this reality, we live in a chronological world of events that might take time to change and resolve. However, there may be instant feedback when the inner mind is called upon to influence external reality. Thoughts, beliefs, and feelings are fluid, and these inner events can manifest spontaneously in the physical world, often as symbols. Understanding how your subconscious mind interprets and creates these symbols is a key to transformation. When you understand and use the nature of physical reality and its symbolic meanings, you may no longer feel trapped in a rigid lifestyle. 

It may take years to peel away beliefs that block your creative nature. We have to consider and evaluate the beliefs we have been taught by our parents, school, and the media. It’s possible to change our beliefs, if we are aware of them. 

Popular books and New Thought teachers speak of creating with your thoughts and underlying emotions, but they often fail to mention how one’s inner beliefs affects the outcome. Taking charge of your thoughts and manifesting them may create changes only if your inner work has freed up the process. Limiting beliefs cause untold suffering, and can hinder our ability to create our own realities. 

We can help our Tarot clients uncover and move past such limiting beliefs. We can ask our clients what symbols they notice in the cards, and we can ask them to examine why they see these symbols as they do. We can help these clients unearth hidden truths about themselves, and we can help them recognize their own role in creating their present circumstances. A responsible Tarot reader understands that we are not telling the future, but rather, telling how the future may be changed.

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Tarot Reflections is published by the American Tarot Association - Copyright (C) 2008

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