About the Author

MARK McELxoY, a former corporate manager and training designer, has been developing creative Tarot applications for almost a decade. In addition to conducting Tarot workshops and classes nationwide, he is the author of Putting the Tarot to Work, Taking the Tarot to Heart, and creator of The Bright Idea Deck, a brainstorming Tarot. Visit his websites at www.ideadeck.com and www.tarottools.com.

Llewellyn Publications St. Paul, Minnesota

Other Books by Mark McElroy

The Bright Idea Deck

Putting the Tarot to Work

Taking the Tarot to Heart

Forthcoming

Deal Me a Story

I Ching for Beginners

Lucid Dreaming for Beginners

This one's for Phil Hulst, who makes an art of serving others.

Acknowledgments . . . x

Introduction: Exploring What Works . . . 1

Chapter One: Getting Started . . . 5

Preview: What to Expect in Chapter One . . . 5

Out in Left Field . . . 6

Learning by Association . . . 6

Learning by Doing . . . 7

Initial Attitude Survey . . . 13

Where Do We Go from Here? . . . 17

Summary: Chapter One for Short Attention Spans . . . 17

Chapter Two: Making Meaning . . . 19

Preview: What to Expect in Chapter Two . . . 19

Making Meaning . . . 20

The Key to Making Meaning . . . 21

Your Secret Weapon for Making Meaning . . . 24

Some Things to Keep in Mind . . . 32

All Systems Go! . . . 33

Summary: Chapter Two for Short Attention Spans . . . 33

Chapter Three: Testing the Tarot . . . 35

Making the Most of These Experiments . . . 35

Day One: Make a Meaning . . . 39

Day Two: Trumps on Trial . . . 43

Day Three: Suit Yourself . . . 47

Day Four: Your Court Date . . . 51

Day Five: Deal of the Day . . . 55

Day Six: A Simple Strategy . . . 59

Day Seven: Personal Improvement . . . 63

Day Eight: A Relaxation Ritual . . . 67

Day Nine: Dream a Little Dream . . . 69

Day Ten: Deal Me a Story . . . 73

Day Eleven: Sister Doololly's Revenge (or Testing Timing) . . . 77

Day Twelve: Either/Or Outcomes . . . 81

Day Thirteen: Dream Workshop, Part I . . . 83

Day Fourteen: Dream Workshop, Part II . . . 85

Day Fifteen: Why-ping about Life . . . 87

Day Sixteen: Facing Your Fears . . . 91

Day Seventeen: Instant Insight . . . 95

Day Eighteen: Fun with Yes and No . . . 99

Day Nineteen: Pros and Cons . . . 103

Day Twenty: Making Memories . . . 107

Day Twenty-one: Comparative Reading . . . 111

Day Twenty-two: Attention to Intention . . . 115

Day Twenty-three: Creating Compassion . . . 121

Day Twenty-four: Probing Your Precognition . . . 125

Day Twenty-five: More Bang from Your Brainstorming . . . 129

Day Twenty-six: Answering the Big Questions . . . 133

Day Twenty-seven: Breakfast with da Vinci . . . 137

Day Twenty-eight: Exploring Past Lives . . . 141

Day Twenty-nine: Give a Tarot Reading . . . 147

Day Thirty: Looking Back . . . 153

The Exit Survey . . . 153

Chapter Four: What's Next? . . . 161

Educational Applications . . . 163

Psychological Applications . . . 165

Magickal Applications .. . 167

Creative Applications . . . 168

Predictive Applications . . . 169

Planning Applications . . . 170

Appendix: Where to Go for More Info . . . 173

Suggested "First Decks" for Beginners .. . 173

Personal Favorite Decks . . . 174

Other Decks of Interest . . . 176

Recommended Books . . . 177

Somewhere, someone needs to build a little monument to Carl Weschcke and the entire Llewellyn crew ... to a person, they're fabulous. Barbara Moore continues to wow me with her consistency and passion. Michael Maupin teases my ugly Microsoft Word files into beautiful, well-edited books. Steven Pomije and Alison Aten delight me with their efforts to get the word out about my work. Gavin Duffy is an amazing artist with a great eye for covers that command attention. Jennifer Spees generates great book and promo copy. Drew Siqveland gives me great opportunities to present my ideas to the New Worlds readership. The sales team continually goes to bat for each and every title. The list goes on and on.

Thanks, too, to the vibrant and friendly Tarot community, including the store owners who've hosted signings and events (especially Karen Parker and the New Vibrations team) ... and friends all over the world who've reached out via email and communities like TarotPassages.com, ComparativeTarot.com, and Aeclectic Tarot. The Atlanta Crew (especially John, Jeri, and Phil) continue to go above and beyond in their friendship and enthusiasm ... your love brings me great joy.

Finally, thanks must also go to Clyde, my patient and supportive partner for the last twelve years. You are my anchor, my solid rock, and my refuge. I love you more every day.

Many people ask me, "Does Tarot really work?"

In reply, I ask a question of my own: How do you know if anything works?

A computer works to the extent that it helps you complete your work without crashing or losing your files.

A medicine works to the extent that you feel better when you take it.

An employee works to the extent that he or she helps you make more money.

A relationship works to the extent that you feel happier, more empowered, and more appreciated while you're in it.

A religion works to the extent that it deepens your spiritual connection to the Divine ... and, by extension, to all people and things created by the Divine.

In other words: when something provides you with:

• a savings of time, money, or effort, or

• feelings of fulfillment, satisfaction, empowerment, or pleasure, or

• any benefit you really care about, in your opinion ... it works!

Now How Much Would You Pay?

So, back to our question. Does Tarot really work?

For a moment, forget about Tarot. Let's pretend instead that you're watching an infomercial-you know, one of those late-night programs hawking nonstick cookware or stain removers or videos with titles like Firmer Thighs for Flabby Guys.

Imagine the chatty host slamming a tiny black box on the countertop. (Did you hear the crowd oooh and aaah?) "That's right," the host intones. "For less than $19.95, you get the Wonder Widget. What can you do with a Wonder Widget? Well, ladies and gentlemen, with this Wonder Widget, you can:

• be more objective

• be more creative

• solve problems faster

• be better prepared for the future

• see more options

• test strategies for life before putting them in action

• know more about yourself and your motives

• see your own actions and emotions more clearly

• see the world from the perspectives of others

• be better balanced, more aware, and less distracted!

Here's the good news: The Wonder Widget exists. Frequently, it really does cost less than $19.95. Better yet, people all over the world will affirm for you that the Wonder Widget works. Once you learn how to use it, you really can enjoy all the benefits listed aboveand more.

At this point, the brighter kids in this class know where I'm going: the Wonder Widget is, of course, the Tarot-the very same cards used by Sister Doololly, who, from her ramshackle trailer just beyond the city limits, Knows All and Tells All. (You'd think someone able to foresee the winning lottery numbers could at least afford a double-wide!)

Getting Past Sister Doololly

Over the past eight years, I've become accustomed to the fact that most people associate Tarot with the Sister Doolollys of the world. The Average Joe-or the Average Joan, for that matter-thinks of Tarot as "fortunetelling cards." Frankly? These days, members of a growing and vibrant Tarot community tell fortunes with Tarot cards about as often as they use washboards and hot rocks to launder their clothes.

I call Tarot the "Swiss Army knife of creativity," and I teach people from all walks of life how to use the cards to generate more ideas, ask better questions, see more options for action, and implement better solutions. You can't beat it as a brainstorming tool, as I point out in both Putting the Tarot to Work (which demonstrates how Tarot can be used as the ultimate business brainstorming tool) and Taking the Tarot to Heart (which adapts the same brainstorming techniques for use in love, sex, and relationships).

Almost every day, I use the Tarot to:

• generate gift ideas for friends and family

• monitor how a situation is changing-and explore how I might influence it for the better

• build detailed character profiles and surprising plot twists for my fiction

• remind me of my goals and help me prioritize my daily task list

• make new friends and meet new people

• solve problems and generate dozens of different approaches to the business and personal challenges of the day

• "see what I think"-literally!-about a situation, and

• enhance my perspective by getting my thoughts out of my head and onto the table, where I can see them from an entirely different point of view.

I've even invited friends over to play the six-hundred-year-old card game that gave birth to the Tarot deck in the first place. (Take it from me: Tarot may never again be as popular as bridge or poker, but playing a hand or two of Tarot is a heck of a lot more fun than watching yet another syndicated rerun of Frasier.)

I know other people who use Tarot as:

• a meditational aid

• a divinatory tool

• a brainstorming tool

• a collectible

• a writer's aid or journaling deck

• a visualization tool for setting and reaching goals

• a form of do-it-yourself therapy.

So many applications! You won't be interested in all of them, nor do you have to be. My point is this: whoever you are, whatever you do, there's an application of Tarot that will, to some degree, enhance your work ... or even your life.

Take the Tarot Challenge!

But don't take my word for it ... with this book, you can find out for yourself.

What's in the Cards for You? is like a Whitman's Sampler of Tarot applications ... with a twist. Instead of it telling you what Tarot can do, you'll determine for yourself what you can do with Tarot. By completing a series of thirty fast, fun, hands-on experiments, you'll conduct a personal investigation into whether Tarot works for you.

You do not have to "believe in Tarot." You do not have to put on a turban, a purple housecoat, or golden slippers with pointy toes. You do not have to own an incense burner or a crystal ball. In fact, it might be better if you've never touched a Tarot deck in your entire life-at least then, you won't be one of those folks whose prior experience weighs them down with preconceptions and expectations.

In the end, if you have a copy of this book, a Tarot deck, and an open mind (or, at least, a willingness to suspend your disbelief for thirty days), then you have everything you need to start finding out What's in the Cards for You.

And, unlike people who allow their minds to be made up by others, you'll be embarking on a first-person voyage of personal discovery. At the end of our thirty-day program, you might become a "True Believer." Alternatively, you may discover that some applications work for you, and that others simply aren't your cup of tea. For that matter, one month from now, you may feel you've independently verified that Tarot cards are Grade-A, 100 percent pure hokum.

But whatever you decide, it will be your conclusion, based on your own investigation, your own experience ... your own firsthand encounter with the Tarot.

Meanwhile, if just one of the thirty applications works for you-if you make just one better choice, take just one well-timed action, avoid just one pitfall, or see just one critical challenge more clearly ... won't that have been worth the cost of a pack of cards and fifteen minutes of your time?

Mark McElroy

Summer, 2004

In this chapter, you'll:

• Discover the value of this book's hands-on approach

• Commit to a program of self-guided experimentation with Tarot

• Pick a Tarot deck to use with this program

• Document your current beliefs, conclusions, and feelings about Tarot

Imagine your best friend comes to you and says, "Guess what? I'm learning to play baseball!"

"That's great!" you reply. "But I didn't know there was a baseball field anywhere around here."

"There isn't," your friend says, beaming. He holds up a book: Baseball: A Brief History of America's Favorite Game. "I'm reading this."

You pause, confused. "You're learning to play baseball by reading a book about baseball history?"

"Not just this book," your friend says, looking a bit irritated with you. "It's just a history of the game. I'm also reading all about the rules."

You hesitate. You want to be supportive, but you're also concerned. "I would think there's more to learning to play baseball than just reading about it."

"I'm not just reading about it," your friend says. "I've been watching televised games and videos of the last five World Series. I've also rented Bull Durham, The Bad News Bears, Angels in the Outfield, Eight Men Out, and A League of Their Own. At this point, I figure I'm probably no more than eight or nine movies away from trying out for the minor leagues."

"But what team do you practice with?" you ask. "When do you actually play the game?

Your friend looks stunned. "You mean actually get out on the field? Why in the world would I need to do that?"

As strange as your friend's approach to baseball might sound, his method is almost exactly the one most people have taken when learning about Tarot.

Over the past eight years, I've talked with a lot of people who thought they knew a lot about Tarot.

They've read a few books, like The Da Vinci Code, which mention Tarot cards in a mysterious, spooky context. As a result, they're convinced Tarot cards are riddled with ancient codes and hidden messages.

They've seen Tarot featured in a few movies and television shows, like Carnivale, Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, or Live and Let Die. As a result, they expect everyone involved with Tarot to speak with odd accents ... and every appearance of the Death card to be cause for big drama.

They've heard a few gossipy, unfounded stories about the origins of Tarot. As a result, they think Tarot was conceived by Satan, brought to Earth by aliens, refined by Egyptians, and circulated by gypsies.

They associate Tarot with Sister Doololly's Single-Wide Miracle Ministry Emporium out on the edge of town. As a result, they dismiss Tarot as "fortunetelling" They believe Tarot cards are primarily used to foretell the future, and they think everyone using them is a two-bit scam artist.

So I've started asking people, "Have you, personally, ever handled a Tarot deck? Have you ever investigated the cards for yourself?" Apart from some slumber party shenanigans during their early teens, very few folks have actually held a deck of Tarot cards in their hands.

Would you trust a movie review from someone who had never seen a movie? Would you put your faith in a restaurant critic who had never visited a restaurant? Would you put any stock in a baseball expert who has never once played the game?

Fact is, if you want to learn how to play baseball, you have to swing some bats, pitch some balls, and run some bases.

If you want to learn more about the benefits and applications of Tarot, you have to shuffle the deck, deal some cards, and try the reading process for yourself.

Until you take a hands-on approach, everything you know about Tarot is strictly hearsay.

In order to really appreciate some books-like the Bible, for example, or War and Peace-you should read them cover to cover, in one sitting.

This is not one of those books.

In fact, this book is less about reading ... and more about doing. It offers no dull lectures on history and symbolism. There are no instructions telling you to keep your cards cleansed with sea salt, wrapped in silk, and stored in an ornate wooden box. There is no appendix dictating what each Tarot card means.

Instead, this book takes a hands-on approach. It offers thirty experiments designed to help you explore the applications and benefits of Tarot. Each experiment takes about fifteen minutes to complete, and you commit to completing one experiment per day for the next thirty days.

In the process, you form your own opinions about Tarot. You decide which applications, if any, work for you ... and which applications, if any, don't. At the end of the thirty days, you draw your own conclusions about what Tarot is and how Tarot works.

A word of caution: because this method of exploring the Tarot is strictly hands-on, you can't approach this book the way you approached your gym membership.

Remember your gym membership? The one you signed up for last January, right after making all those resolutions about losing weight and getting in shape? You paid for it, you felt great ... and one week later, you forgot all about the gym and found yourself sitting at the Krispy Kreme, pounding down a dozen chocolate frosted donuts with sprinkles.

But don't worry-this book doesn't require anywhere near as much effort or commitment as body building or weight loss! In fact, you can be ready to start your adventure in a matter of minutes. All you have to do is follow these three quick and easy steps:

Step One: Sign Your Life Away

In order for this approach to work, you actually have to do the experiments and stick to the schedule. You have to make a commitment.

And that's why this chapter contains a contract. Think of it as a printed promise-a little statement of your intention to follow this program through to the end. There's no need to phone up your lawyer before you sign it ... the contract itself is short and sweet:

I, , hereby commit to this course of experimental study of the Tarot, and promise to complete one experiment per day for the next thirty days.

No need to sign in blood ... ink will do nicely. And please note-there's no penalty for breaking the contract. If you don't follow though, I don't get to garnish your wages or repossess your car or put your photo up on www.TarotTools.com in the Quitter's Gallery.

However ... signing the contract is evidence of your seriousness about this program-a measure of your dedication, right up front, to following through to the end. So: did you sign the contract?

If you hesitate to sign it-or if you decide not to sign the contract at all-you might ask why. What are you afraid of? Are you serious about this investigation? Are those stories your girlfriend tells about your fear of commitment really true?

If you did sign it-congratulations! You've got the courage of your convictions-a very rare thing, these days.

Step Two: Pick a Partner

Other than this book and a strong commitment to finish the program, the only other thing you need to start finding out What's in the Cards for You is, logically enough, a Tarot deck. (I suppose you could work with this book without using a Tarot deck, but, when you get to the steps that say, "Shuffle and deal the cards," you'll look pretty silly shuffling an "air deck.")

In some cases, this decision may have been made for you-the person who gave you this book, for example, might have handed you a Tarot deck along with it. If this isn't the case, you'll need to choose a pack of cards for yourself.

At first, selecting a deck may seem pretty intimidating. After all, there are hundreds of decks out there. You can get decks based on alchemy, animals, baseball, brainstorming, the life of Buddha, cats, Celtic mythology, dragons, druids, dogs, Egypt, the elements, erotic art, fairies and faeries, flowers, Gummi Bears, Halloween, herbs, inner children, Jungian psychology, Kabbalah, love, medicine women, mermaids, myths, Native American art, Oz, Paris and Prague, Pythagorean theory, the Renaissance, rock music, Romeo and Juliet, sacred circles, lives of the Saints, Shakespeare, shapeshifters, shoes, stained glass, the Templars, tiny bugs, unicorns, vampires, vision quests, Victoriana, witches, Xultun, the Year 2000, and, while I couldn't find it before this book had to go to press, I'm sure there's a "Tarot of the Zebras" out there somewhere.

The experiments in this book will work with almost any deck. That said, I recommend against using theme decks (like The Baseball Tarot) or art decks (like the Dali), simply because you may not always want your perceptions colored by your favorite sport or surrealist painter.

In the end, you'll be ahead of the game (and you'll limit the potential for confusion) if you choose a deck with the following features:

Seventy-eight cards

Many Tarot decks follow this tradition, but not all. Included in these seventy-eight cards will be twenty-two Major Arcana ("big secrets") cards and fifty-six Minor Arcana ("little secrets") cards. (The Major Arcana cards may also be referred to as "trumps")

Illustrated pips

You're already familiar with poker cards, which feature the suits of diamonds, clubs, hearts, and spades. You already know that publishers tend to print eight little diamonds on the eight of diamonds, five little spades on the five of spades, and so on. What you may not know: the tiny diamonds, clubs, hearts, and spades printed on these cards are called pips.

Like their poker card cousins, Tarot cards also tend to have four suits-usually some variation on Coins, Wands, Cups, and Swords. As you might expect, in some decksparticularly in decks with nonillustrated pips-the Four of Cups depicts nothing but four cups, while the Five of Wands is illustrated with five sticks, and so on.

These days, most of the more popular Tarot decks feature illustrated pips-in other words, an interesting picture on every single card. In a deck with illustrated pips, instead of finding four swords on the Four of Swords, you might see a sleeping warrior, or a woman meditating, or a compass with four directional points, or someone intently reading a book.

When finding out What's in the Cards for You, I strongly recommend you use a deck with illustrated pips-an evocative illustration on every card.

If you have unlimited time and resources, I recommend you purchase several hundred decks and check each one to see if it conforms to the parameters I outline above.

If you, like me, have limited cash, limited time, and other things you hope to accomplish in life, you can save yourself a lot of grief by picking up one of the decks I recommend below. (At TarotTools.com, I provide links that allow you to preview and purchase them all; unless otherwise indicated, you can also pick up these decks at your local bookseller or Amazon.com). Most are available for twenty bucks or less!

The Bright Idea Deck (Llewellyn)

This engaging deck features brightly colored art, a contemporary setting, and images deliberately crafted to stir emotions and boost creativity. If you think Tarot is spooky or old-fashioned, this may well be the deck for you. And, since I designed it, each time you buy a copy, the great folks at Llewellyn Publications give me a nickel I can use to buy food for my poor, hungry babies. You can preview and purchase my deck at www.TarotTools.com.

Medieval Enchantment: The Nigel Jackson Tarot (Llewellyn)

This deck serves up vivid colors and whimsical artwork on oversized cards that, while challenging for small hands, are a visual treat. I use this deck often while reading in public because the fairy-tale images put even the most unimaginative skeptics into a "once upon a time" frame of mind.

The International Icon Tarot (Glow in the Dark Pictures)

Artist Robin Ator's cards present vivid images rendered in the style of international signage. Since we're already conditioned to "read" signs like these, each card very naturally prompts users to ask, "What is this card trying to tell me?" Better yet, due to the nature of the artwork, this deck poses no issues for those who might be uncomfortable with nudity or spooky symbols. You can get your copy from Robin's website; I provide a link to it at TarotTools.com.

Universal Tarots (Llewellyn / Lo Scarabeo)

This more traditional deck is based on the most popular Tarot images of all time. Evocative art appears on every card! It's also available in a handy travel size that weighs lessand is a lot more fun-than a bar of soap.

In addition to these, you could use any Tarot deck with the words "Rider," "Waite," or "Rider-Waite-Smith" in the title (also called RWS-style decks), including:

• The Universal Waite (U.S. Games)

• The Rider-Waite or Original Rider-Waite (U.S. Games)

Finally, while we're talking about decks, I should mention the booklets-sometimes called Little White Books or LWBs-included with most Tarot decks. (In addition to the LWBs, many modern decks also come with Big Full-Color Books, too.) The LWB usually contains:

• an (often iffy) history of Tarot

• an often metaphysical (but occasionally just bizarre) set of instructions for use ("Always deal your Tarot cards onto a table made of wood, stone, or other natural materials!"), and

• a long list of what each card means when fortunetelling. (The Six of Wands, for example, is often said to represent "a journey over water." Of course, this could mean you're headed off on an overseas vacation-hooray!-or just going to cross a creek while driving to work.)

For the purposes of this book, you can put all LWBs aside-you just won't need them.

Step Three: Take a "Before" Picture

Not long ago, I actually ordered one of those exercise programs you see advertised on late-night television. (When you meet me at a book signing, you can judge for yourself whether that was money well spent.) Called something like Look Great Naked in Ninety Days, the program kicked off with an odd request: "Put on a pair of workout shorts and snap photos of yourself from the front, back, and side." Further, the instructions directed me to make the same photos, from all the same angles, every thirty days.

I probably don't have to tell you the first set of photos was pretty scary. (We still use poster-size enlargements of them to spook Trick-o'-Treaters at Halloween.)

The logic of this unusual request, however, became clear thirty days into the program. A side-by-side comparison of photos from Day 0 and Day 30 revealed a reduction in flab and an increase in definition that surprised even me! While aware of small changes in myself, until I saw the pictures, I had no idea the differences would be so obvious ... or so dramatic.

The value of "before and after" photos, especially when dealing with gradual changes, cannot be overstated. Taking a clear picture of your starting point makes it much easier, in the long run, to know just how far you've come.

And that's why this chapter ends, not with a request for your scantily clad digital photos, but with a short survey designed to capture your attitudes toward Tarot before you start discovering What's in the Cards for You. It isn't long, and it isn't exactly scientific. But filling out this survey today (it won't take you longer than fifteen minutes) will make it much easier to see and appreciate your progress over the coming month.

At the end of the thirty-day program, you'll be asked these same questions again. Which answers will change? Which answers will remain the same? How dramatic will your evolution in attitude be?

Please check or mark your answers in this book. Wearing workout shorts while you complete the survey is, of course, entirely optional.

1. Which of the following best describes your attitude toward Tarot today?

I am absolutely and totally convinced that Tarot is bunk. It's the stuff of storefront psychics and frauds and cheats. It's for weak-minded people who need to be told what to do and can't bear to think for themselves. It's right up there with rabbits' feet and lucky charms and Things That Go Bump in the Night. I'm as likely to use Tarot for personal insight as I am to use leeches to reduce my blood pressure.

I wouldn't say Tarot is a fraud, but I'm not convinced Tarot "works" in any meaningful way. Very likely, most of what Tarot has to say is so general that it could be made to fit any situation ... and any success in prediction is more a matter of coincidence than anything else.

At this point, I don't have an attitude toward Tarot either way. I'm completely neutral.

I think something might be going on with Tarot-but I'm not sure what, or why. I've seen some people do things with the cards that I found interesting, and I'm intrigued by the possibilities. While I'm not quite ready to put on a turban and call myself "The Great Mysterioso," I am curious and I'd like to know more.

I'm absolutely, totally convinced that Tarot works. I've got a Tarot collection that shocks most of my friends and family, and I consult the cards on a regular basis. I guess you could call me a True Believer-in fact, I think the world would be a better place if everyone owned a deck of Tarot cards and used them every day.

2. How likely are you to "have your cards read" by someone else?

- Not very likely. Frankly, I'd rather have a long, slow root canal. - Somewhat likely. I might do it if you paid me, for example.

- Likely. I think it would be cool to have this done once every so often.

- Very likely. I'd like to have my cards read at least once a month or so.

Extremely likely. In fact, I want a reading every hour on the hour, just in case there's something coming up I really need to know about.

3. How likely are you to "read the cards" for yourself?

- Not very likely. I'd just as soon try to divine the future using raw goat livers!

Somewhat likely. I stopped thinking Tarot was cool when I stopped attending slumber parties with the other neighborhood nine-year-olds.

- Likely. I've read my own cards pretty often. I do, however, have a life, so my interest waxes and wanes over time.

- Very likely. In fact, Tarot cards are a regular part of my routine.

Extremely likely. I dare not make a single move without pulling a card from my trusty Tarot companion. In fact, before answering this question, I pulled a card that told me which answer to choose. Now, though, you'll have to excuse me: I have to finish this survey so I can finish my pre-lunch Tarot card reading so I won't be late for the one I've scheduled in the early afternoon.

4. Do you "read the cards" for other people?

- Nope. Never.

- I might have, once or twice, but I managed not to make a habit of it.

- I read for others about as often as I go to church-once or twice a year.

- I deliver at least one reading a month.

- I read for others on a daily or weekly basis.

5. How spooky, scary, or "occult" do you think Tarot is?

- It's not spooky ... it's just plain stupid.

- I don't think it's spooky at all.

Okay, I admit it's a little spooky ... you know, like a creepy movie can be spooky, but in a good, nonthreatening way.

- Tarot is pretty darn spooky. In fact, I get goosebumps just looking at the cards.

Tarot is hands-down the most terrifying thing in the universe, apart from a long, slow IRS tax audit.

6. To what extent do you think working with this book will influence your attitude toward Tarot?

I know it all about most subjects, and Tarot is no exception. Completing this program will do little more than confirm my preconceptions that Tarot is just so much New Age metaphysical gobbledygook.

The program might change my attitude a little ... but I'm not expecting much. I'm unsure how this program will change my attitude toward Tarot.

I think this program is likely to suggest several new applications and uses for Tarot that I will find useful and beneficial.

I think this program will absolutely and totally convert me to the Tarot cause. In fact, I'm almost certain that, upon completing the thirty experiments, I'll quit my day job and start teaching Tarot and reading cards for a living.

7. Complete this sentence: `At this point, I think Tarot cards can effectively and beneficially be used for..." (Pick as many as apply.)

Swindling the weak-minded.

Revealing set futures that are fated to come to pass.

Exploring many possible futures.

Brainstorming new ideas, answers, and approaches.

Leveling a short table leg.

"Seeing what you think" about a situation or question.

Trying out a strategy or solution before putting that strategy or solution into place in real life.

Boosting personal creativity.

Improving your own intuition.

Facilitating meditation.

Building attractive card houses.

Anticipating the most likely outcome of a given situation.

Increasing your awareness and making you more perceptive.

- Enhancing your feelings of control or confidence.

- Communicating with the dead.

- Enhancing your objectivity with regard to a question or situation.

- Writing or telling interesting stories.

- Frightening children (and some adults) at slumber parties and Halloween.

- Working magic and casting spells.

- Playing a trick-taking game like Bridge, Rook, or Spades.

8. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not certain at all" and] O= "extremely certain") how certain are you that you could look at a Tarot card and determine what that card means?

9. If it weren't for your participation in this program, how likely would you be to use Tarot over the next thirty days?

- Very unlikely

- Unlikely

Unsure

- Likely

- Very likely

10. How likely are you to buy a Tarot deck for yourself in the next thirty days?

- Very unlikely. If I want to waste money on card games, I'll go to the casino!

Unlikely. But who knows? I do all kinds of strange things when I drink.

Unsure.

- Likely. In fact, owning one deck seems like a pretty cool idea.

Very likely. In fact, I'm thinking of converting my spare bedroom into a vault for my growing collection.

With the first three steps complete, you're just about ready to start finding out What's in the Cards for You.

If you've never worked with a Tarot deck before, you may want to invest half an hour reading chapter 2, "Making Meaning." Most tarot decks don't feature cards with printed messages that say, "Sell that risky tech stock ... quickly!" or, "Honey, dat man's cheatin' on you!" Instead, Tarot cards present information in a symbolic, visual format. The following chapter introduces a simple, powerful application that will make it much easier for you to decipher at a glance what a Tarot card means. I highly recommend browsing through chapter 2 before you discover What's in the Cards for You.

The thirty daily experiments begin in chapter 3, "Testing the Tarot." If you're already familiar with Tarot (or if you're one of those types who never bothers to read instructions), feel free to plow right in! If you get stuck reading a card or generating ideas, you can always take a quick trip back to chapter 2 for help.

Good luck!

While many people have vague or superstitious ideas about Tarot, few have investigated it for themselves. Tarot's over-the-top portrayal in books, movies, and television shows is the basis for what most people think of when they think of Tarot.

By completing just one fifteen-minute experiment per day, you can engage in your own hands-on investigation of what, if anything, Tarot can do for you. All you need is this book, a deck of Tarot cards, and a commitment to completing the program.

To make your work easier, choose a seventy-eight-card deck with pictures on every card. Avoid theme decks and artsy decks, which may limit your brainstorming options.

Before you begin, answer the Initial Attitude Survey, which documents your beliefs and opinions about Tarot prior to completing this program. You'll answer the same questions again in thirty days. Comparing the two sets of answers will reveal how your attitude and understanding evolved over the course of the program.

If you like, jump right in and start the thirty-day program by skipping to chapter 3. I recommend, however, that absolute beginners browse the "Making Meaning" information found in chapter 2.

In this chapter, you'll:

• Discover how your innate powers of association allow you to generate meanings for any Tarot card, even if you've never touched a Tarot deck before.

• Receive a "secret weapon" designed to boost your powers of association and enhance your natural ability to tell what any card means.

• Learn to use the secret weapon to decipher card meanings for yourself.

• Find out everything you need to know to start discovering What's in the Cards for You!

Generating answers, options, and solutions with Tarot cards involves:

• making meaning, and then

• relating that meaning to the question, situation, or any other issue under consideration.

Sounds simple ... and, in a way, it is. Still, because making meanings and relating those meanings to the question at hand doesn't come naturally to everyone, this short chapter breaks the process down, step-by-step. Even if you've never touched a Tarot deck before, you can follow these strategies and "read the cards" with confidence.

Some Things, You Just Know

What does a red light "mean?"

If you took those words to mean "traffic signal," you likely thought, "Stop!" If you live somewhere with a "red-light district," you probably thought of something else entirely.

Every day, we encounter and decode (often without conscious effort) thousands of signs and symbols. You see the "swoosh," and you think Nike. Cingular spent millions of dollars to make sure most of us would recognize their distinctive orange "splat" If you've ever driven cross-country with a five-year-old in the backseat, you know that even on foggy days a kid can spot golden arches up to six miles away.

Not all symbolic messages come from commercials, of course. Has anyone "given you the finger" lately? Did you have to stop and ask her what she meant?

Consider a more high-brow example: The suggestive power of a cross. Hold up a cross, and people with even the slightest knowledge of Western culture think of Christand, by extension, Christianity, churches, and religion in general. (More gothic types, of course, will think of vampires.) This simple geometric shape calls to mind an infinite array of emotions, conclusions, experiences, and memories.

But What Makes Meaning?

This process-what I call making meaning-depends on the magic of association. The human brain automatically links any idea to millions of others. (Or, in the male of the species, the brain links millions of ideas to a single concept: sex!)

Thanks to the power of association, a simple picture of an apple might call to mind:

• The Garden of Eden, Adam, Eve, the serpent, and the concept of original sin

• An apple a day keeps the doctor away

• Apple cider, apple juice, apple sauce, apple cobbler, apple strudel, and caramel apples

• William Tell shooting arrows at the apple atop his son's head

• The (likely mythical) apple that fell on Newton's head, prompting his realizations about the nature of gravity

• Comparing apples to oranges

• A well-known brand of overpriced but artfully designed and cleverly marketed computers

The list goes on and on.

In order to make meanings, the power of association draws on your education, your memory, your experience, and your emotions. Whenever we confront something unique or unexpected or random, the power of association sends our brains scrambling for any resources that might help make sense of the new information. As a result, even people who have never used Tarot cards before can, at a glance, start making meanings.

That said, what does the following card mean?

Figure 1: Yellow 3 from The Bright Idea Deck

Without conscious effort, the instant your eyes scan the card, your brain starts making meaning. Just for fun, let's take the process apart, piece by piece.

For each of the questions below, write your answers in the spaces provided. And don't fret, I'll provide the correct answers in the following section.

1. What mood or emotion is this woman feeling? How can you tell?

2. What was this woman trying to do? How do you know?

3. How hard did she work at her goal? What evidence suggests your conclusion?

4. What might be suggested by the perfect little cupcake on the counter?

5. Describe a time when something you tried for the first time didn't quite turn out the way you expected. How did you feel? What did you do?

6. What do you think this woman will do next? Why?

7. If you asked a friend, "How do you feel?" and your friend passed you this card, what message would your friend most likely hope to communicate?

8. Pretend this image is on the front of an inspirational greeting card designed to make someone feel better. What would the text on the inside of the card say?

9. What events, activities, phrases, sayings, preferences, and memories do you associate with a cake?

10. In your own words, what is this card "about?" What might it mean?

Bonus Question: What 1970s hit by disco queen Donna Summer would make a particularly appropriate soundtrack for this card?

And the Winner Is ...

When people begin making meaning from Tarot cards, they usually want to know whether or not their answers are right. This usually entails the production of an Answer Pageant, in which all possible answers doll themselves up, parade around on stage, and compete for a sash embroidered with the words, "Best Answer."

Sorry ... but there will be no Answer Pageant today.

I know, I know: I promised to tell you the "correct" answers. Unfortunately, because making meaning is an intensely personal process, there are no "correct" answers. In the end, any answer you generate wins "Best Answer."

(As a concession, I'll give you the answer to the Bonus Question: MacArthur Park. You remember: that song about a cake left out in the rain, the time it took to bake it, and the tragedy of never having that specific recipe again? Awfully catchy tune, isn't it, for a song about disappointment?)

Of course, some meanings you make will prove more useful than others-so the more meanings you make while looking at your Tarot cards, the more likely you are to come up with insights, options, and answers that will prove useful in your current situation.

To help you make the most meanings and apply them to your question as quickly as possible, I've come up with a cheat sheet for beginning Tarot readers. I call it my "Answer Mining" template. In addition to the copy below, you can download free blank copies from TarotTools.com. With time, you'll internalize this process ... for now, though, the Answer Mining template can serve as your own Secret Weapon for making meaning!

In order to better understand how the Secret Weapon puts you in touch with your inner Message Making genius, let's look at the questions on the form one by one.

1. What elements do you notice in the card illustration?

Trying to extract a meaning while looking at an entire card can be overwhelming. This question employs an old, but effective, strategy: divide and conquer. Rather than try to figure out the meaning of an entire card, focus on three to five elements that capture your attention. What's the setting? What characters appear on the card? What objects or symbols do you see? What colors predominate?

Once you've recorded three, four, or five elements in the Answers column, you're ready to record your associations: the concepts, experiences, ideas, memories, or sayings that come to mind for each.

Let's say one of the elements you notice is a star. Associations for a star could include: making wishes, Star Trek, or even the name of your favorite celebrity. Perhaps you noticed how prominent the color red seemed to be. As a result, your list of associations might include: heat, danger, the Red Sox ... even sunburn!

With an association or two recorded, it's time to consider possible applications: how might these associations relate to the situation or question under consideration?

For example, perhaps you pulled a card in hopes of brainstorming an answer to the question, "What can I do to make Terry notice me?" Earlier, having identified a list of elements on your card (including a star), you brainstormed a series of associations (including the name of your favorite celebrity). To make this association into an application, you think in terms of something you could do to make Terry notice you. You might dress up like your favorite star, for example, or be prompted to wear a perfume or cologne your favorite celebrity favors. Having noticed the color red and thought of the Red Sox, you might try asking Terry to come with you to a game.

You don't have to come up with an application for every association.. . but the more applications you can come up with, the more options you'll have to choose from later on! More importantly: applications you dismiss as silly or worthless (such as, "Get really badly sunburned, so Terry can't help but notice my lobsterlike complexion when I walk in the room") may give rise to much better ideas later on (such as, "Get a spray-on tan and a makeover at the local spa, so I'll feel more attractive and more confident the next time I see Terry").

One of the biggest secrets to enhancing your creativity is to "ignore your internal editor." Write down and cherish whatever associations or applications come to mind.

2. Which element stands out to you the most?

Of the elements you listed in your answer to the first question, which single element stands out as the most important? Whatever it is, the fact that it draws more attention than the others means this element is particularly significant (often for reasons you don't yet understand).

Identify the element, then come up with more associations and applications, recording them on the form, as before.

3. What numbers are associated with your card?

If your card is numbered, try making associations based on that number. For example: if your card features the number five, your associations might include Abraham Lincoln (whose picture appears on the five-dollar bill), James Monroe (the fifth president of the United States), Rocky Balboa (who appeared in a total of five Rocky films), or even something that happened to you five minutes, days, weeks, months, or years ago.

A numbered card might also prompt you to consider the cards that come immediately before and after it, or that share its number. Having drawn the Four of Swords, you might also pull the Three of Swords (for insights into your situation's past) and the Five of Swords (a possible future). You could also compare the Four of Swords to the fours in other suits ... or to the Emperor (in many decks, the fourth trump).

Finally, you might also consult the following chart, which summarizes symbolic associations others have made with the numbers one through ten.

If you draw a card with a number higher than ten (like Trump 18-The Moon), you can reduce the number to one that appears on this chart by repeatedly adding the single digits of your number together until you get a number from one to ten (in this case, 1 + 8 = 9).

As with your elements, be sure to record the associations and applications your numbers help you generate.

4. What text, titles, or keywords appear on your card?

Tarot cards often bear labels, including titles, keywords, and text. As you make meaning, try forging associations with these words.

If a card is titled justice, you might ask yourself what rules, regulations, or assumptions about fairness or objectivity govern your situation. If a card features the keyword Despair, you might recall a time you were on the verge of despair, and see what lessons learned back then might apply to your current situation.

Whatever associations come up, write them down, along with any applications. (If the card titled "The Devil" makes you think of your mother-in-law, consider keeping your Secret Weapon form in a place where the poor dear won't stumble on it by accident.)

5. What emotions do postures or expressions suggest?

If you notice a character with balled fists and a frown, you might conclude the dominant emotion portrayed on the card is anger. As a result, you might associate the card with someone or something that makes you angry: people who take cell phone calls during movies, for example, or men who leave the toilet seat up. As before, record any associations and applications on the form.

6. What meanings have others assigned to this card?

If you happen to know any meanings others have assigned to the Tarot card you've drawn, write them in the Answers column, then generate all the associations and applications you can.

If you have no idea what meanings have been assigned to this card in the past, you could look some up ... but, as a general rule, you should feel free to skip this question.

Why? Generally, the authors and designers of Tarot decks had some meaning in mind when they created each card. These are often listed in the books or booklets that come with each deck.

For example, because I designed all the cards found in The Bright Idea Deck, I can speak with authority about the details on each card-and the meanings I meant to communicate. As an "in joke," I asked the artist to make the writer who appears on the Blue 7 card look like me. A specific logic governs the shape of the door handles seen on the Blue S. I insisted on having a golden key in the illustrations for Red 10, Yellow 10, Green 10, and Blue 10. (If you're curious about my logic, I reveal my reasons in the companion book that comes with the deck.)

In the case of The Bright Idea Deck, another person also influenced the meanings of the cards: the artist. (Had the folks at Llewellyn not hooked me up with an artist, The Bright Idea Deck would consist of my own bad crayon drawings on the backs of index cards.) Eric Hotz created designs based on card descriptions I wrote, but quite often, his artistic talents led Eric to suggest a composition or a perspective quite different from the one I had originally conceived. In doing so, he shaped and enhanced my own perception of the card's intended meaning.

The meanings intended by the creators of a Tarot deck, though, aren't the only ones assigned to the cards. Over the years, experts of every stripe have chimed in with their (often conflicting) opinions about the meanings of the cards. Some of these meanings have roots in numerology or astrology. Some have survived from a time when Tarot was primarily used as a fortunetelling tool. To be perfectly frank, I think some of these meanings have been made up with no rhyme or reason in mind.

I know folks who cling to assigned meanings with the same tenacity wealthy Republicans use when clinging to corporate tax shelters. In some cases, this is because they've invested a tremendous amount of time and effort in memorizing a particular set of seventy-eight keywords. In other cases, people don't go beyond assigned meanings out of fear that their own meanings will be, for whatever reasons, less correct. And, in a few cases, some people are just plain lazy; having mastered the first meanings they came across, they aren't interested in learning anything else, ever!

To be clear, I'm not knocking the use of traditional meanings. If you know them, and they give you an additional hook on which an association or application can be hung, have at `em. If you don't know them, and you're struggling with what to think about a specific card, traditional meanings frequently provide a good "jumping-off point" for your brainstorming process.

If there's any chance, though, that received meanings will limit your creativity (or that looking them up will disrupt the flow of your brainstorming session) ... always feel free to skip Question Six.

7. What are the characters on this card doing?

What were the characters on your card doing just before this moment? What will happen next? Might their actions suggest a course of action you should take?

Use common sense when implementing this approach, of course. In many decks, a card called The Fool depicts a young man jumping off a cliff. Rather than take this literally and launch yourself off the local Lover's Leap, consider how the action on the card could be taken metaphorically ("Whatever your situation, look before you leap!").

In addition, consider the context of the actions you can see. What events led up to the picture on your card? What is happening now? What will happen next? How will the situation be resolved?

Pay close attention to stories you weave this way. These tales don't have to rank up there with the latest legal thriller by John Grisham or a Sue Grafton mystery. Instead you might discover that, in telling this story, you're actually telling your own.

8. If the characters on this card could talk, what advice would they offer you?

Some people enjoy making this into a meditative exercise. They close their eyes, imagine stepping into a giant version of the card, and then they wait for the character in their head to speak to them.

Me? I go with the first phrase that comes to mind. While writing this page, I paused to draw a card that I could use as an example. I received an irritable-looking King of Wands: "Hey, you-quit stalling, and get back to writing the book!"

9. If this illustration appeared on the outside of a greeting card, what would the message on the inside be?

If a flowery phrase worthy of a Hallmark card pops into your head, record it here ... but remember, greeting cards these days can be either naughty or nice.

What greeting would excite you? Disappoint you? Threaten you? Enlighten you? How about, "Congratulations on the Recent Divorce!" or, "Lordy, Lordy, Look Who's Forty?" Whatever greeting occurs to you, write it down.

10. Based on what you discovered above, what are the best possible, worst possible, and middle-of-the-road meanings for this card?

In Tarot classes, I call this process "Extremes and Averages," and I use it to help students get past their prejudices and see their cards in a different light.

Reading cards for yourself is always tricky-it requires a degree of objectivity many people lack. By embracing our fears (with the worst possible reading) and admitting our hopes (the best possible reading), we get a better handle on our biases and prejudices. Averaging the extremes can help us avoid simply telling ourselves what we fear or what we want to hear ... and get us closer to a meaning that's likely to be, as Goldilocks would say, "Neither too hot, nor too cold, but just right."

With your Answer Mining form filled out (even mentally), you've got more than enough information to help you decide what a specific card means for you. As you continue your work with the cards:

1. Watch for repeating themes.

Often, as you work with the Answer Mining form, the same idea will come up again and again-a common thread, running through most, if not all, your answers, associations, and applications. There's a reason for this; it's the creative equivalent of your subconscious whacking you over the head in order to get your attention.

2. Embrace all the options.

Too many people get caught up in a search for "The Answer," when what they really need are options. Used effectively, the process taught in this chapter could generate dozens of possible courses of action.

3. Be enabled-not disabled.

Which course of action should you take? That's entirely up to you. Tarot is a great system for defining and exploring options, but ultimately you're responsible for your own decisions and your own life. You're in control; based on the information you glean from the process, you make the choice.

And that's how things ought to be. You don't really want to hand the reins of your life over to seventy-eight pieces of laminated cardboard, do you?

With your sharply honed abilities to make and apply meanings, you're ready to take part in an exciting experiment-a first-person, hands-on investigation into the power and utility of Tarot. In thirty days, you'll be someone who can talk about Tarot with authority and integrity ... because you've investigated the options for yourself.

No more lectures! No more practice! It's time to start learning What's in the Cards for You!

"Reading" Tarot cards involves making meaning through the power of association, then relating those meanings to the question, situation, or issue under consideration.

When making meanings, don't worry about right or wrong answers-the meaning the card suggests to you is more important than any meaning dictated by any other authority.

Your innate powers of association can be boosted by the Answer Mining template in this chapter. Answering its ten questions helps you explore a Tarot card illustration from dozens of different perspectives. It's your personal secret weapon for making meaning!

As you work with the cards, watch for repeating themes and unexpected optionsthey're often the key to the answer you're looking for. Keep an open mind!

Remember, you're in control. As you work with the cards, you'll come up with both good and bad options. Empower yourself by making responsible choices with your best interests in mind.

• Stick to the program. Complete an experiment a day for the next thirty days.

• Pace yourself Most experiments take about fifteen minutes to complete. If you finish an experiment early, consider adding a little more detail to your notes. If you find that experiments take longer than fifteen minutes, try to be more concise in your answers.

• Adopt a routine. Start each experiment in the morning, beginning as early as possible. Note that some experiments consist of two parts-one part to be completed in the morning, and one part to be completed just before bed. When this is the case, remember that the combined time you spend completing both parts should never be more than fifteen minutes.

• Limit distractions. When you're ready to start an experiment, find a place free from distraction. Turn off cell phones, pagers, and computers. Let friends, family, spouses, children, and roommates know that this time is reserved for important personal work, and ask them not to disturb you. (They'll test you to see if you're serious. Be prepared to respond firmly but politely, "This is time I've reserved for me. I'll be with you in fifteen minutes.")

• Browse a bit. Each day's experimental entry begins with a bit of Tarot trivia-a "Tarot Fast Fact." There's no need to try to commit these to memory (though you'll be surprised at how many of the Fast Facts will effortlessly stick with you). If you like these, have at 'em-at the very least, they'll make for good cocktail party chitchat. If you don't like 'em, ignore 'em.

• Use Sister Doololly's Pronouncement of Power. Before each experiment, put on a funnel-shaped tinfoil hat, stand on one foot, and intone the mystical phrase, "Eyewon ... tabeegba ... nannah."

• Ignore the previous bullet point-I was just testing to see if you were paying attention. Remember: the whole point of this book's practical approach is to reinforce the idea that you don't have to do things like that in order to enjoy the benefits of working with Tarot.

• Get back on the wagon. Should you ever skip a day, do not try to "make up" for lost time by completing more than one experiment. Instead, as soon as possible, pick up where you left off. Continue with the program, completing one experiment per day.

• Don't take things too literally. Some Tarot decks contain cards with spooky titles, like Death or The Devil. When you see these, don't freak out; instead, consider the metaphorical meanings the cards could possess. Death, for example, might prompt some speculation about things in your life that need to come to an end ... the card doesn't have to be (and, many would argue, rarely is) associated with physical death.

• Complete the experiments in order. Each experiment builds on those that came before.

• If an experiment ever makes you uncomfortable, make a note of it. Rather than worry about this, just skip the problematic experiment and go on to the next one.

• Win some, lose some. Some experiments will work for you. Some might not. When this is the case, don't be disappointed. You don't have to have success with all of Tarot's applications in order to enjoy the benefits of those that do work for you! Try all the different approaches. Make your mantra: "Take what works."

• Limit reruns. If you encounter an experiment you really enjoy (or, on the other hand, if you encounter an experiment that doesn't produce the results you had hoped for), you may want to run the same experiment again on the following day. This is fine-but try not to take more than three "do-overs" during the course of this program. The whole point of this approach is to keep moving and keep trying new things for the next month or so. You've got the rest of your life to come back to experiments that, for whatever reasons, aroused your interest or curiosity.

• Consider your options. At the end of each experiment, you'll find a short list of suggested assignments "For Extra Credit." Extra Credit assignments are entirely optional, but they can greatly enrich your experience with this program.

• Share your success. As you work with the program, consider posting your results to the community forums on TarotTools.com. There you can compare progress, hook up with "study buddies," get encouragement to stick with the program, and meet other people who are interested in discovering What's in the Cards for You.

Tarot Fast Fact

Tarot card "meanings" are a dime a dozen. In fact, if you read a dozen Tarot books from a dozen different Tarot experts, you'll see that all these different experts assign different meanings to the same card! (In fact, about the only time the experts agree on card meanings is when one of them has stolen his or her meanings from another expert's book.)

Canned meanings are a lot like canned vegetables-they're quick and easy, and they have a long shelf life ... but eventually, you'll long for hardier fare. Use them when they're useful-but remember that a canned meaning, no matter how attractively packaged or preserved, can rarely compete with the freshness and flavor of those meanings you grow for yourself.

Today's Experiment

Step 1: Take a look at this Tarot card:

Figure 2: Universal Tarot Chariot

In most decks, this card is considered a trump-one of several cards given special weight or importance. Its title is usually something like "The Chariot," and it's often the seventh trump, a fact that may be indicated by a Roman numeral seven (VII) somewhere on the card.

If your deck is of relatively recent issue, be aware this card may have been reinterpreted by the artist, or given a slightly different name, such as "Advancement" or "Breakthrough" or "Laughing at the Losers." (Okay, I made that last one up myself.) Here are three examples of how other deck designers have visualized the Chariot:

Figure 3: The Chariots from the Robin Wood Tarot, the Medieval Enchantment Tarot, and The Bright Idea Deck ("Trump VII Advancement").

In your own Tarot deck, find the Chariot (or its equivalent). If you have to refer to the book or booklet that came with your deck in order to determine an equivalent card, that's just fine. If you can't find a matching card, don't fret-for today's exercise, you can work with one of the Chariot images reprinted here.

Step 2: Study the Chariot carefully, paying attention to titles, keywords, color, posture, expressions, and overall tone. Write a short description of it (75 words or less) in the space below.

Step 3: Using the Answer Mining form from chapter 2, or a process of your own, decide what you think this card means. Record the meaning you assign here:

Important note: Do not read the following step until you have completed Step 3, or you will spoil the experiment!

Step 4: Some traditional meanings assigned to The Chariot include:

• Victory-winning, competing, arriving, conquest, achieving goals, self-mastery.

• Motivation-what moves you forward, what makes progress possible, confidence.

• Control-stepping in, taking the reins, immersing yourself in a situation, having or creating a plan, a situation under or in need of control.

1. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = not similar at all and 10 = extremely similar), how similar were the traditional meanings to the meaning you made?

Note: if the meaning you generated for the Chariot varied from those traditionally assigned to it, no worries! The goal today was to use your powers of observation and association to make a meaning of your very own ... not to duplicate a canned meaning!

For Extra Credit

Practice this process-and build your meaning-making skills-by drawing at least three other cards at random from your Tarot deck. Make meanings for each.

If you want, you can compare your meanings to those defined in a book or deck of Tarot card meanings, or those meanings found at Joan Bunning's excellent website, www.learntarot.com. How closely do your meanings conform to the traditional ones? How do you feel about the differences?

Tarot Fast Fact

Today's experiment refers to the fact that there are twenty-two trumps in a Tarot deck. Technically, there are only twenty-one trumps. The Fool, an unnumbered card (sometimes given the number "0"), was originally considered an entirely different kind of card.

To keep things simple, I lump the Fool in with the trumps; as a result, I say, "There are twenty-two trumps." You'll get extra points in Trivial Pursuit, however, (and annoy people at parties) if you remember to say in your prissiest and most condescending voice, "Actually, there are twenty-one trumps ... plus a Fool."

Today's Experiment

Complete Steps 1-7 this morning.

Complete Steps 8 and 9 this evening.

Step 1: Yesterday, we mentioned a very special group of cards called trumps. These cards, which are assigned special weight or importance, usually have impressive-sounding titles like The Pope, The Empress, or Justice. Some people find some of the trumps-such as Death or The Tower-to be particularly spooky. (P. S. Even though The Tower is a trump, please do not refer to it as "Trump Tower," as doing so annoys The Donald.)

Many Tarot decks contain twenty-two trumps (or-all together now-"twenty-one trumps plus a Fool!"). The Fool may be unnumbered, or numbered zero. The highest numbered trump in your deck is likely The World (or its equivalent, usually numbered XXI or 21).

Locate and remove the twenty-two trumps from your Tarot deck.

Note: If your deck includes an extra trump or two, don't fret.

Step 2: Spread the trumps out so you can see them all. (If you have small cards or a big table, you can put them in one long line, from zero to twenty-one. If you don't have that much space, you might arrange the trumps in three rows of seven, with the Fool, or the unnumbered trump, centered above the rest.) Spend at least three seconds looking at each one.

Step 3: Pick one trump that you feel represents the kind of day you had yesterday.

If you spent the day in church, you might feel led to pick the Pope (sometimes called the Guide or the Hierophant). If you cheated on your diet and scarfed down a slice of Hershey Bar pie at lunch, you might choose the Devil (as in, "The Devil made me do it!"-a card sometimes called Materialism, Greed, or the Shadow). If you were in a car accident and you telephoned one of those overeager, ambulance-chasing television lawyers, you might pick the justice card.

Step 4: Once you've selected a trump, record in the space below a brief explanation of why you associate this trump with your experiences yesterday.

Step 5: Gather all the trumps, including the one you selected, and shuffle them.

Step 6: Select one trump card at random. Write down the name, number, or title of this trump (if obvious), or record a brief description, sufficient for finding this card later, here:

Note: If you draw the Death card, don't start making out your will; these cards are symbolic and metaphorical, remember? Taken that way, the Death card might indicate bringing something to an end (like a bad relationship) or the end of a cycle or phase (like a run of bad luck giving way to a new phase of happier times).

Step 7: Study your trump, then record brief answers to the following questions:

1. What kind of actions (something you might actually do) might this trump represent?

2. What kind of emotions (something you might feel) might this trump represent?

3. On this card, what single element-a color, an object, an item, a character-captures your attention most?

4. Based on these answers-or any of the "Making Meaning" techniques from chapter 2-what would you say this card means to you today?

Important Note: For now, put the cards and this book aside. Do not read further or complete this experiment until tonight, or you will spoil the experiment.

Step 8: In what ways, if any, did the meanings you assigned to this card seem to come up as a theme, influence, or factor in your day?

Step 9: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "very inappropriate" and 10 = "very appropriate"), how appropriate, in your opinion, would it be to say today's trump card predicted something about the tone or nature of the events of your day?

For Extra Credit

Repeat today's experiment, but, after you select the trump-don't look at it. Set the card aside. At the end of the day, explore the card's meaning using the questions in Step 7, above. To what extent would you consider this card-which you didn't see until the evening-a predictor of the events of your day?

Tarot Fast Fact

Early card decks from Islamic Spain featured four suits: coins, cups, swords, and, of all things, polo sticks. When these cards turned up in Europe around 1375, Europeans, who enjoyed a good game of cards, but had never heard of polo, called that suit staves (or wands).

Many Tarot decks preserve these early suit names. They're cousins to the suits found on modern playing cards today: diamonds, hearts, spades ... and clubs. (To liven up a dull game of Bridge, try playing with the rule that anyone who slips up and says clubs instead of polo sticks has to take a drink.)

Today's Experiment

Step 1: In addition to the trumps, your Tarot deck is very likely divided into four suitsusually some variation of Coins, Cups, Swords, and Wands. Modern decks may update the suit names, but usually maintain the tradition of four suits. (In The Bright Idea Deck, for example, the suits are identified by color: Green, Blue, Yellow, and Red. Other decks may call Wands staves or Cups chalices.)

Each suit usually includes cards 1-10, plus four court cards: some variation of Page, Knight, Queen, and King. In modern decks, these names may also be updated, becoming, for example, Son, Daughter, Mother, and Father. (In The Bright Idea Deck, these are the Approach Cards: Learning, Doing, Feeling, and Controlling.) The other cards in the suit-the ones numbered from 1 to 10-are usually called the pips. (Despite the name, these forty cards have nothing to do with Gladys Knight.)

From your Tarot deck, remove the trumps and the court cards, leaving only the forty pips.

Step 2: Place the pips where you can get to them easily, then write your answer to the following questions in the blanks provided.

On a scale from one to ten, with one being lowest and ten being the highest, rate your satisfaction with the following areas of your life. For now, simply record your scores; ignore the phrases ("of Coins," "of Cups," etc.) that appear after each blank.

Material and Physical Satisfaction: of Coins

Emotional and Spiritual Satisfaction: of Cups

Mental and Intellectual Satisfaction: of Swords

Creative and Occupational Satisfaction: of Wands

Note: If you're working with The Bright Idea Deck, the suits of Green, Blue, Yellow, and Red correspond to Coins, Cups, Swords, and Wands, respectively. If your deck calls these suits by a different name, feel free to cross out the suit names above and write in the corresponding suit.

Step 3: Having answered the questions in Step 2, find the four corresponding cards in each suit. (For example, if you rated your Material and Physical Satisfaction as a 7, locate the Seven of Cups, etc.)

Step 4: Look at the images on each of the four cards very carefully. Based on impressions you get from each card, or using any of the "Making Meaning" processes outlined in chapter 2, convert each illustration into a tip for improving the corresponding level of satisfaction in your life.

Let's say you pull the Five of Coins for your Material and Physical card:

Figure 4: Five of Coins from the Universal Tarot

You might convert the illustration on that card into this tip: "Start volunteering regularly with a local charity." Whatever your tips turn out to be, record them in the chart below:

Step 5: Answer these two questions:

1. Which of the four tips seemed most relevant? In other words, which of the four cards seemed to generate a strategy that might actually enhance your satisfaction with the corresponding area of your life?

2. On a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 = "not effective at all" and 10 = "extremely effective," how would you rate the effectiveness of this exercise in generating some ideas for improving the various areas of your life?

For Extra Credit

Select one of your tips and put it into action. Give the strategy thirty days to work some kind of change in the corresponding area of your life. Thirty days from now, ask yourself the question, "Has my satisfaction with this area of my life increased as a result?"

Tarot Fast Fact

Despite the title, in this experiment, we won't be using the Tarot deck to pinpoint the next time you'll be called up for jury duty. Instead, today's experiment focuses on the court cards-the "people cards" that come after cards 1-10 in each of the Tarot's four suits.

Most deck creators give court cards titles like Page, Knight, Queen, and King. (As mentioned before, in The Bright Idea Deck these correspond to the Approach Cards: Learning, Doing, Feeling, and Controlling.) For the record, most Tarot decks contain a total of sixteen court cards-four in each suit-instead of the twelve court cards found in a standard deck of playing cards.

Today's Experiment

Step 1: Answer the following questions by circling the most appropriate answer:

1. Choose the one phrase which best completes this sentence: Of all my best personal qualities, I prize most highly ...

1. my physical strengths and achievements, including my looks, my possessions, and/or my financial prosperity.

2. my emotional strengths and achievements, including my success in love, my quest for spirituality, and/or my empathy

3. my intellectual strengths and achievements, including my problem-solving skills, my objectivity, and/or my communication skills.

4. my motivational strengths and achievements, including my ability to set goals, make things happen, and/or take appropriate action.

II. If you were asked to assemble a bicycle out of several hundred parts, which of the following statements would best describe your response?

A. Initially, I'd be enthusiastic. I might even enjoy planning the project, sorting all the parts into piles, and fiddling with the tools. Eventually, though, I'd leave for a drink of water, get distracted by that tub of cookie dough in the fridge, and forget about the bicycle until I stumbled over the pile of parts the next week.

B. I'd plunge into the project, rolling up my sleeves and diving in without so much as a glance at the instructions. If I discovered a part was missing, I'd find a replacement in the garage or make one from scratch. I wouldn't stop-I might not even eat or sleep-until the bike is ready for the road.

C. Before touching a tool, I'd work through the project from beginning to end in my head. I'd like to know why I'm being given this assignment, and who the bike is for. If I experienced any difficulties, I'd either motivate myself to find a solution by thinking about how happy I'd be when the project is done, or I'd use my personality and charm to inspire someone to help me.

D. I wouldn't mind organizing and coordinating the assembly-including building a timetable to make sure the work was finished by whatever deadline applied. My preferred approach, though, would be to assemble an efficient work group or assembly line. Why spend six hours assembling a bike alone when I could lead a group to complete the same effort in fifteen minutes?

Step 2: Traditionally, each of the sixteen court cards in a Tarot deck is said to represent a combination of personal strengths and problem-solving skills. Using your answers to the questions in Step 1 as "coordinates," find your personal court card in the chart below. For example, if you answers were 1 and C, your court card would be the Queen of Coins.

Note: The apparent genders of court cards-female queens, male kings-were devised before the glorious days of political correctness, when men were believed to be aggressive and active and women were imagined as pretty and passive.

Especially since three out of four of the court cards are male, it's likely that your symbolic court card's gender may not match your own. When this is the case, don't worry-it's all in fun. (If male, you may want to use caution when screaming, "Look at me! I'm the Queeeeen of Waaaaands!" in public.)

Step 3: Locate your personal court card. Record the name of the court card corresponding to your distinctive blend of personal strengths and problem-solving skills in the space provided.

Step 4: In the blank below, write the name of the person you consider your best friend (you may also use a relative, spouse, or coworker, if you're hard up for friends):

Step 5: Based on your knowledge of this person, use the questions in Step 1 to determine which court card best represents him or her. Locate the card in your Tarot deck. Record the corresponding court card in the blank below:

Step 6: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "very unsuccessful" and 10 = "very successful"), how successful were you at identifying the court card that corresponds to your distinctive blend of personal strengths and problem-solving skills?

Step 7: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "very unsuccessful" and 10 = "very successful"), how successful were you at identifying a court card corresponding to the person named in Step 4?

Step 8: Take a moment to consider how your personal court card compares to that of the person identified in Step 4. How are the two similar? How are they different? What, if anything, might these differences suggest about the challenges and benefits associated with your relationship?

For Extra Credit

As you interact with various people today, try to determine which court card corresponds to their distinctive blend of personal strengths and problem-solving skills. How might this awareness help you interact more successfully with these people?

Tarot Fast Fact

Sister Doololly insists everyone should shuffle Tarot cards her way: hand over hand, very gingerly, as though the cards might explode. She claims this is for metaphysical reasons; it's actually because her four-inch fake nails rule out any other shuffling method.

As with most of what Sister Doololly says, feel free to ignore this edict. Whether you give the cards a noisy "over the bridge" poker shuffle or smear them around on the table top before squaring up the deck (the easiest method, especially if you share the Sister's penchant for fake nails), your cards will work just fine.

Today's Experiment

Complete Steps 1-4 this morning.

Complete Step 5 this evening.

Step 1: Shuffle your Tarot deck, using whatever method you choose. (If wearing fourinch fake nails, take care not to chip the polish in the process.)

Step 2: Draw a single card. Write its title, name, number, or a short description (whatever information you would need to find the card again) in the space below.

Step 3: For the purpose of today's experiment, imagine that your card represents one of the following three possibilities:

1. If the card is a trump card, imagine that the card represents a recurring theme you'll encounter throughout the day. Remember, if you draw a spooky card, don't panic-think metaphorically. During a day with a Death theme, for example, your run of bad luck might come to an end, that annoying coworker one cube over (you know, the one who always smells like onions?) might retire, or your subscription to Skeptic Magazine might expire. (You might want to put off paying the renewal fee, anyway, since you may be a bit less of a skeptic twenty-five days from now!)

2. If the card is a court card, imagine that the card represents one of the following:

• a specific person,

• a specific type of person, or

• a specific behavior, attitude, or approach you associate with a specific person.

For example, the Queen of Cups might make you think of:

• your Aunt Lottie,

• a well-intentioned but, perhaps, overly emotional person who reminds you of Aunt Lottie, or

• Aunt Lottie's ability to char a turkey, burn the dinner rolls, wreck a souffle ... and still throw a delightful dinner party, thanks to her ability to make everyone feel so remarkably comfortable in her home.

3. If the card is a pip card, imagine that it represents one small moment from your day: a little scene you might encounter, an opportunity for kindness or intervention, a message left on your voicemail, etc. Which kind of card did you draw? Record the answer here:

Step 4: Pretend this card is a prediction for your day. Using the guidelines from Step 3 and any of the strategies for making meaning from chapter 2, make your best guess as to the theme, the person (or the type of person, or the personal approach), or the kind of daily event this card might represent. These don't have to be deep or fancy predictionsjust record your first impressions in the space below:

Important: At this point, put this card and this book aside. Do not proceed to the next step until this evening. If you read further now, you'll spoil the experiment.

Step 5: Read back over your "prediction" for the day. To what extent was your prediction reflected in the events of the day?

• If your card was a trump card, to what extent did the events of your day seem to reflect the meaning you assigned to that trump?

• If your card was a court card, to what extent could you say you met the specific person, saw someone like the person, or encountered the behavior or personal style you assigned to the court card?

• If your card was a pip card, to what extent would you say that card was reflected in an event, incident, or exchange from your day?

Record your thoughts and evaluations in the space provided below.

For Extra Credit

Whatever the results of your experiment today:

• Choose one trump card you feel represents today's theme. Write down a one- or two-sentence explanation of why you connect that card with the theme of your day.

• Choose one court card that corresponds, for any reason you choose, with someone you saw or interacted with today. Write down a one- or two-sentence explanation of why you associate that court card with that person.

• Choose one pip card that seems to reflect some small moment from your day: a message received, a scene you glimpsed, a conversation you overheard, an action you took, an emotion you felt, etc. Write down a one- or two-sentence explanation of why you associate this card with that event from your day.

Tarot Fast Fact

Put the image of a fortuneteller in a gold turban, silk robes, and pointy slippers to rest! Sister Doololly's monopoly on the cards is long over. These days, more people than you'd ever suspect are working with Tarot in an amazing variety of ways.

Corporate managers use the cards to explore options and brainstorm solutions. Writers generate stories and plot twists. Psychologists encourage clients to work with Tarot images during therapy. Students use the pictures to recall facts and figures. And people just like you are using the cards to visualize goals and define step-by-step strategies for achieving them.

Today's Experiment

Complete Steps 1-4 this morning.

Complete Steps 5 and 6 this evening.

Step 1: Select one of your personal goals. Perhaps you want to buy a new car. It could be that you want to become a better friend, a better listener, a better worker, or even a better lover. Maybe you're just hoping Hilbert, that cute lunchroom employee with the unfortunate unibrow, will finally notice that you're interested.

Anything you hope to achieve-long term or short term-will do. (If it's too early in the morning to think about goals, you can always go with the old standby, "Be a better person.") When you've selected a goal, write it down here:

I want to ...

Step 2: Shuffle your Tarot cards and draw one. Record the title, the keyword, or a short description-anything that will help you find this card again later on-here:

Step 3: Imagine that this card has been given to you by a clever and respected advisor. Instead of speaking in words, your advisor prefers to communicate using symbolic pictures. The picture on this card represents a simple action. If taken today, this action will carry you one step closer to your goal.

A single picture might suggest several possible strategies for action. Let's say you draw the Six of Staves from Llewellyn's Medieval Enchantment deck by artist Nigel Jackson:

Figure 5: The Six of Staves from the Medieval Enchantment deck

If your goal is to "be a better person," this picture might inspire strategies like these:

• Reward or acknowledge the accomplishments of others

• Express more gratitude for what I'm given

• Celebrate even the smallest victories

• Help a man put on his hat (or, by extension, help someone with his or her coat, etc.)

• Make a banner saluting someone else's achievement

• Strive to be more noble and humble-like a knight in a maiden's service.

As you work, focus on the elements, titles, numbers, keywords, colors, objects, people, postures, expressions, and activities in the picture on your card. Using any of the strategies for making meaning discussed in chapter 2, come up with three action statements related to your goal and record them here:

Today, in order to move just one step closer to my goal, I will .. .

1.

2.

3.

Step 4: Choose one of the three strategies for action. Circle it. Commit to putting that strategy into practice today.

Note: At this point, put this book aside and return to complete Steps 5 and 6 at the end of the day. If you read further at this point, you'll spoil the experiment!

Step 5: Describe the action you took today, including any apparent impacts or results:

Step 6: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "very ineffective" and 10 = "very effective"), how would you rate the effectiveness of using a Tarot card as a means of visualizing or generating a short-term strategy for reaching your goal?

For Extra Credit

If you're interested in using the Tarot as a means of setting and achieving goals, try the following:

• Identify three personal goals.

• For each goal, draw three cards. Imagine each of these cards represents a step you could take toward meeting the associated goal. Once you determine what each card means, convert that meaning into an action with potential for moving you closer to your goal.

• Write down these goals and steps, and keep the paper out where you'll see it several times a day. Better yet: choose a goal to focus on, and keep the three cards out where you can see them. These visual reminders will prompt you to recall your intentions throughout the day, making it all the more likely that you'll notice (and take advantage of) opportunities for action.

Tarot Fast Fact

Think fast! Which of the following does the term Tarot spread most likely refer to?

• a quilted comforter fashioned out of old Tarot cards

• a tasty new condiment you can smear on a bagel

• a predetermined arrangement of cards in which each card position is assigned a specific meaning.

If you answered the last point, you're correct! Spreads-also called layouts-greatly enhance the flexibility and usefulness of the cards. Spreads don't have to be complex. One example of a powerful, simple spread? Three cards in a line, representing the past, present, and future of a situation.

Today's Experiment

Note: Today's experiment identifies one aspect of yourself that might benefit from a little attention. If you think you're already perfect in every way, you may skip today's experiment and, instead, write a fifteen-minute essay titled, "The Joys of Self-Delusion"

Step 1: Shuffle your Tarot deck, draw three cards, and arrange them in a straight line, from left to right.

• The card on the left represents some aspect of yourself that needs attention. If you could change any one thing about yourself, what would it be? Your appearance? Your weight? Your temper? Your tendency to sneak raw cookie dough out of the fridge and eat it when you think no one's looking? Your lack of a savings plan?

• The card in the middle represents a benefit associated with improving this aspect of yourself. For purposes of this experiment, it's best to define a benefit in terms of a positive, measurable impact on your time, money, health, outlook, appearance, work, relationships, self-image, or mood. (Examples include, "I'll look better in a tight T-shirt" or, "I'll have more money to spend on Tarot decks.")

• The card on the right represents a simple strategy for improving this aspect of yourself. Think in terms of active strategies-things an objective, external observer would be able to verify that you did if he or she reviewed a videotape of your day. (Examples include, "Instead of having dessert every meal, I'll only have desserts on weekends" or, "Instead of buying six soft drinks a day from the machine at the office, I'll put that money in a jar and save it.")

Step 2: Record the names of the three cards you drew here:

1.

2.

3.

Step 3: Keeping the guidelines above in mind, use any of the strategies from chapter 2 to make a meaning for each of these cards. Record your final ideas in the chart below:

Step 4: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not very successfully" and 10 = "very successfully"), how successful were you at relating Card 1 to an aspect of your life that needs improvement?

Step 5: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not very successfully" and 10 = "very successfully"), how successful were you at relating Card 2 to a benefit you might receive if you improved the area identified by Card 1?

Step 6: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not very successfully" and 10 = "very successfully"), how successful were you at relating Card 3 to a strategy for improving yourself?

Step 7: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "very unlikely" and 10 = "very likely"), how likely are you to implement the strategy you identified above?

Step 8: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not very valuable" and 10 = "very valuable"), how valuable was the insight you achieved while working with these cards today?

For Extra Credit

Keep today's cards out as a reminder of your goals. Rather than permanently remove them from the deck you work with daily, consider buying a second deck. (My publisher, who also publishes Tarot decks, loves it when I say that.) Then, after pulling identical cards, try:

• Placing them in a frame, where you'll see them often

• Carrying them in your briefcase or purse

• Glancing at them each time you stop for a traffic signal

• Reviewing them once in the morning and once at night.

If you don't want to buy a second deck, you can always copy the cards with a scanner or find similar card images on the web. Once you do, consider using these images as your computer wallpaper ... or print them out and post the images where you'll see them on a daily basis.

In two weeks, review your goal and your progress toward it. To what extent are you realizing the benefit you imagined during this exercise? What factors seem to influence your degree of success?

Tarot Fast Fact

You may be aware of many odd traditions associated with Tarot cards. Some books instruct users to wrap their cards in silk or store them in wooden boxes. Some people claim the cards must be "cleansed" by burying them for three days under the light of a full moon or "recharged" by exposing them to incense or hunks of quartz. Whether or not you pay this sort of special attention to your cards is strictly a matter of personal taste.

These practices are called rituals. Rituals require participants to do a certain thing (such as cutting the deck) a certain way (three times with your left hand) in order to promote a desired state of mind (what some researchers call "a resourceful state"). As you work with Tarot, you may be surprised to discover how even a simple ritual-such as shuffling the cards while thinking of a question-can automatically put you in a more creative frame of mind.

So, if naming your deck "Irene" and buying her a nice dinner helps you get more out of the cards, go for it. If you prefer to think of your cards as useful, creative, but strictly practical tools, that's fine, too.

Today's Experiment

Step 1: Locate your Tarot deck's Sun card. In more traditional decks, the Sun card is usually Trump XIX, and may depict a happy child on horseback. In The Bright Idea Deck, the equivalent card is Trump 19, Energy.

Step 2: Spend at least sixty seconds studying the card. Note its colors and details carefully, as though preparing to draw the card from memory.

Step 3: While continuing to look at the card, recall a time or place where you felt especially relaxed and at peace. This might be last year's lazy seaside vacation. You might call to mind how it feels to nap on your favorite couch. Keep this memory-and this feeling of relaxation-in mind as you study the card for at least sixty more seconds. (If other thoughts intrude on your awareness, acknowledge them, think, "I'll deal with you later," and gently bring your mind back to the Tarot card image and the associated memory of peace.)

Step 4: Continue to focus on the card and your pleasant memory. Without holding or deliberately changing the pace of your breath, become aware of it. As you breathe in, think the word, "Safe .. "As you breathe out, think the words, "... and calm." Maintain this state-looking, recalling, breathing, and prompting yourself-for up to five more minutes.

Step 5: Later today, when you feel hurried, out of breath, or stressed, pause for two minutes. (Anyone can spare two minutes!) Find a place where you will not be disturbed by others. Turn off your cell phone or pager. Close your eyes and recall the image of the Sun card. Without holding or deliberately changing the pace of your breath, become aware of it. As you breathe in, think the word, "Safe .. "As you breathe out, think the words ". . . and calm." Maintain this state for two minutes.

Step 6: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "very unsuccessful" and 10 = "very successful"), how successful were you at altering your state of mind using this technique?

For Extra Credit

Try linking other positive states of mind to other cards, using a different key memory and a different key phrase. For example, you might link a state of creativity to The Magician (in The Bright Idea Deck, that's Trump 1, Capability) by studying the card, recalling a time you felt especially creative, and thinking, "I am ... creative" in time with your breath.

Tarot Fast Fact

Dream interpretation is an ancient art, dating back thousands of years. In one story from the Hebrew Scriptures, Joseph's liberation from prison hinges on discovering the meaning buried in the king's visions of fat cows eating thin cows. (If you slept through all this in Sunday School, perhaps you stayed awake for the same story, as told by an Elvis-impersonating Pharaoh, in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.)

Today, using Tarot cards as dream interpretation tools isn't the stuff of court magicians; it's serious psychology. As author Art Rosengarten notes in his book, Tarot Psychology (Paragon House, 2000), psychologists employ Tarot cards to capture and stabilize dream imagery, providing an intriguing glimpse into the client's subconscious processes.

Today's Experiment

Step 1: Recall one of your dreams. If you can't remember a dream from last night, you may use any dream you've ever had. If you can't recall any dreams at all, try this exercise with a daydream, a fantasy, a fond childhood memory, or even the example dream described in Step 2.

Step 2: Write down a brief description of your dream. Here's an example to get you started: "Last night, I dreamed I held a party for several friends, but many strangers showed up instead. Strangely, I spent the entire party in my bedroom, trying to get my Tivo to work properly. When that was done, I joined the party late, but noticed I was in my childhood home instead of where I live now." (Okay, I admit it; I have weird dreams!)

Record your brief dream description here:

Step 3: Identify three symbolic items or events from your dream and record them in the following table. Someone working with the example dream might write: "strangers at party, spending the party in the bedroom, appearing in my childhood home."

Step 4: Shuffle your Tarot deck and draw one random card for each symbolic item or event identified in Step 3. In the appropriate space in the table, record the names, numbers and suits, titles, or a brief description of these three cards.

Step 5: Using any of the "Making Meaning" strategies from chapter 2, determine the meaning of each card, and write it in the space allocated for the "Card Meaning."

Step 6: Relate each card meaning to its corresponding dream symbol, creating an interpretation for each symbol in your dream. For example: for the symbol "strangers at my party," I drew the Two of Swords. Here's my entry:

Record your dream interpretations in the space provided in the table.

Step 7: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not relevant" and 10 = "very relevant"), how relevant to your current life experience were the insights you gleaned from this dream interpretation exercise?

Step 8: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not effective" and 10 = "very effective"), how would you rate the effectiveness of using Tarot cards as a dream interpretation tool?

For Extra Credit

Keep a dream journal-a description of any dreams you remember, written as soon as you wake up in the mornings-for one week. (Doing so will likely make your dreams both more vivid and more memorable.) In addition to recording brief descriptions of your dreams, try drawing cards for up to three symbolic items or events in each dream, and recording those impressions as well.

What insights do you glean? What repeating themes do you notice? How might these suggest areas that need attention or emphasis in your life?

Note: If you're curious about using Tarot to interpret your dreams, you might consider reading Tarot and Dream Interpretation by Julie Gillentine (Llewellyn, 2003).

Tarot Fast Fact

A growing number of writers use Tarot cards as creative fuel when creating characters, generating backstories (events happening prior to the book's story that impact characters and their motivations), and devising plot twists. (We also use them to explore questions like, "When will my novel outsell Stephen King's?" and, "What's John Grisham got that I ain't got?")

One writer who talks openly about his use of Tarot in his work is Bruce Holland Rogers, who describes his process in his excellent book, Word Work: Surviving and Thriving as a Writer (Invisible Cities Press, 2002). If you're interested in further combining Tarot play with your writing process, stop by www.TarotTools.com for tips, character generation templates, and more!

Today's Experiment

Step 1: Shuffle your Tarot deck and draw three cards, arranging them in a line from left to right. Write the names, numbers and suits, titles, or short descriptions of these cards in the table below.

Step 2: Using any of the strategies for "Making Meaning" in chapter 2, assign meanings to each card, and record them in the table, too.

Step 3: Pretend each of the cards represents one of the following:

• Card One: Once Upon a Time (a setting and a story goal)

• Card Two: Obstacle (a hurdle the hero or heroine must overcome)

• Card Three: Outcome (an ending for the story)

Inspired by the images or the meanings (or both!), write a really bad short story no more than five sentences in length.

At this point, people usually ask, "Why write a really bad short story?" Here's why: When asked to write a story on demand, most people freeze up. Because they want to write the best story they can, they paralyze themselves. Hours later, they have a single sentence!

But writing a really dreadful story never takes very long. Because you know in advance the story will be just awful, you give yourself permission to write whatever comes to mind. In fact, the more your story sucks, the better!

That said, you might create a really bad fairy tale with an unwise moral, a mindnumbing romance that ends in lukewarm mutual disdain, or a tedious and pathetic action sequence with a painfully predictable surprise ending.

Here's a sample really bad story, written in just three minutes by a workshop attendee:

"Once upon a time, three women celebrated the opening of their new organic gardening shop (Three of Cups). Unfortunately, a severe judge pointed out that they had built their store on a plot of land designated as a spawning ground for a rare species of salamander (King of Wands). So they sold the store, drank all the proceeds, and moved to New Zealand (Eight of Cups)."

When she read her work to the class, we applauded, pounded her on the back, and said, "That's a really terrible story! Just egregious! Bravo!" It was a wonderful moment.

Write your own story in the space below. Remember, the goal is to create a really bad story, not win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction!

Step 4: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "Actually, it wasn't too bad." and 10 = "It oozed rancidness."), just how bad was your story?

Step 5: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "extremely difficult" and 10 = "not difficult at all"), how difficult was it to create a simple story using this process?

Step 6: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not useful at all" and 10 = "extremely useful"), how useful do you think Tarot cards might be for generating random story ideas?

For Extra Credit

Create longer stories by drawing additional cards, then writing one paragraph per card. Feel free to "go where the story takes you," or, if you prefer, you can use the outline below:

Card One: The Main Character

Card Two: His or Her Greatest Strength

Card Three: His or Her Fatal Flaw

Card Four: A Goal to Reach

Card Five: An Obstacle to Overcome

Card Six: A Desperate Moment

Card Seven: How Things Turn Out

Tarot Fast Fact

When people come to Sister Doololly's Single-Wide Miracle HooDoo Emporium, they usually ask timing questions. When will I meet my soul mate? When will I get the promotion I deserve? ("They ought to ask me when they'll lose forty bucks," Sister Doololly cackles. "Then I could tell them, `In about twenty minutes, at the end of this session!"')

Sister Doololly's hijinks aside, many people do claim a great deal of success with using Tarot to predict the timing of future events. Dozens of methods exist for generating a timeframe with Tarot cards. The table in Step 2 of today's experiment is adapted, in part, from the booklet included with Tabitha and Chic Cicero's Golden Dawn Magical Tarot (Llewellyn, 2000).

That said, there's no official system for associating certain cards with certain times. If you're interested in predicting the timing of events with Tarot cards, feel free to use a system that makes sense to you ... or to make up a system of your own.

Today's Experiment

Step 1: Come up with a question about the timing of a future event. For the purposes of this experiment:

• Don't choose an event that always occurs at the same time. There's not much point in asking, "When will the six o'clock news come on tonight?" or, "When will New Year's Day arrive?"

• Do choose an event that is likely to occur. Instead of asking, "When will I win the lottery?" or, "When will my mother-in-law say she really, really loves me?" go for questions like "When will it rain?" or, "When will I next receive a telephone call from a friend?"

• Do format your expression as a question. Instead of writing, "Yankees win World Series," write, "When will the Yankees win the World Series?"

Write your question about the timing of a future event here:

Step 2: Remove all the trump cards from your Tarot deck, shuffle them, and draw one.

According to the table on the opposite page, when is your event scheduled to happen? Record it here:

Step 3: Return your trumps to the deck and shuffle it thoroughly. Draw another card. This time, rather than refer to a table, study your card. What numbers appear on it? On an instinctual level, what time of year do you associate with this card? Does the illustration seem to suggest summer? Winter? Fall?

Ignoring the table-based prediction you generated in Step 2, record a timing prediction based on your personal impressions in the space below.

Note: This prediction may conflict with your earlier one ... or they might agree! For now, don't worry about any differences.

Step 4: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not similar at all" and 10 = "extremely similar"), how similar were your two predictions?

Step 5: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not confident at all" and 10 = "very confident"), how confident are you in the accuracy of at least one of your predictions?

Step 6: Some time may pass before you can judge the accuracy of your timing prediction (especially if you drew The Wheel or The World!). Don't forget to make yourself a note to refer back to this experiment and determine how close your prediction came to reality.

For Extra Credit

Create your own timing system. If you like, draw inspiration from the following guidelines:

• Assign suits to seasons.

• Choose twelve court cards and assign each to a different month of the year or a sign of the zodiac.

• Assume trumps mean "months," courts mean "weeks," and pips mean "days"

• Base timing predictions on how much time you feel is associated with the card you draw.

Over the next several weeks, make a series of predictions using whatever system you want to explore. How well does your system work for you?

Tarot Fast Fact

Many people interested in predicting outcomes with Tarot discover that the journey (mulling over possible futures and considering how a situation might evolve) is far more valuable than the destination (generating a perfectly accurate prediction).

In their opinion, the act of making predictions, whether they turn out to be right or wrong, offers value, since doing so encourages reflection on options, goals, and consequences.

And don't forget: even if every single one of your predictions flop, you can always claim you possess the very special (and often valuable) gift of being able to predict what won't take place!

Today's Experiment

Step 1: Pick an event with an "either/or" outcome, such as a football game, an election, or whether or not you'll enjoy this week's trip to the multiplex to watch American Pie Part Thirty-seven: Nursing Home Hijinks. For best results, this should be an event you'll know the outcome of within the next day or two.

In the space provided below, make a record of the event you selected, phrasing your note in the form of a question (such as, "Who will win: the Falcons or the Tigers?" or, "Who will get his delivery pizza first: me or my neighbor?").

Step 2: Shuffle your Tarot deck and draw three cards. Record the names, numbers, titles, or a brief description of your cards here, so that you can identify them later:

1.

2.

3.

Step 3: Rather than assign a specific meaning to each card, look over all three cards. Based on their colors, symbols, numbers, titles, and illustrations, try to get an overall impression of what the outcome of your event will be. (Don't sweat over this process. After all, having chosen an event with an "either/or" outcome, like a sports event, you've got a 50 percent chance of getting it right, regardless!)

Record your prediction here, including a note about the logic or intuition that guided your prediction:

Step 4: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not very confident" and 10 = "very confident"), how confident are you in the accuracy of your prediction?

Step 5: When the event is over, return to this experiment and record whether your prediction about the outcome was right or wrong:

For Extra Credit

Choose a series of either/or events. If you have a lot of time to invest, you might try predicting the outcome of every game played by your favorite sports team over the course of a season. If you're in a hurry, you could always try to predict whether or not the next card you draw from a standard poker deck will be red or black.

Using the technique from today's experiment, predict an outcome for a series of events. Then, before you know the outcome of the event, use a coin toss to create a second, simple prediction of the outcome.

With either/or events, even a random coin toss should predict outcomes correctly about 50 percent of the time. Over time, how accurate were your predictions? How did your success rate compare to that of the coin toss?

Tarot Fast Fact

Many psychologists (especially those who find value in the work of pioneering psychologist Carl Jung) believe that dreams, like the best Tarot decks, contain archetypal symbolsimages with deeper meanings that transcend their obvious appearance and resonate with everyone.

There are even a set of archetypal dreams: flying, falling, finding yourself back in school and unprepared for a test, suddenly discovering yourself naked in public. If you have these, don't worry-almost everyone has them.

That said, if you dream of flying naked and falling into your old high school during a pop quiz ... that's a bit much. You might want to avoid that bedtime slice of pizza tomorrow night.

Today's Experiment

Step 1: Look through your Tarot deck and pick any card. For the purposes of today's experiment, it's best to choose a card you like, or one that appeals to you in some way. Once you choose the card, record its name, number, title, or a brief description here:

Step 2: Take a moment to study your card. Pretend you're going to have to redraw the card from memory. (But don't worry-you won't have to!) Notice every detail you can.

Step 3: For thirty seconds, stare at your card while thinking or saying aloud the phrase, "Tonight, I will see this card in my dreams." (If you like, substitute the name or title of your card for the words, "this card": "Tonight, I will see the Four of Wands in my dreams.")

Step 4: Carry your card with you throughout the day, placing it where you can see it frequently. If you prefer, you can keep a scan of the card on your computer desktop. If carrying the card proves impractical, set your watch alarm to go off several times during the day; each time your alarm goes off, bring the card back to mind as vividly as possible.

Whenever you see the card or bring it to mind, repeat to yourself five times: "Tonight, I will see this card in my dreams."

Step 5: Right before bed, spend at least one minute gazing at your card and repeating the phrase, "Tonight, I will see this card in my dreams."

Step 6: Put your card under your pillow or by your bed, then go to sleep. Our experiment will resume in the morning!

Note: For best results, set an alarm to wake you about fifteen minutes earlier than usual.

If you wake from a dream during the night, consider writing it down before going back to sleep. Also, since dream recall degrades quickly, it's best to start tomorrow morning's experiment the moment you wake up!

We'll follow up on your success tomorrow. Sweet dreams!

For Extra Credit

As you work with Tarot cards, you may discover, as I did, that actual cards begin to appear with regular frequency in your dreams. In addition to cards I've actually worked with, I've also seen new and unusual decks featuring startling images-some of which I've recalled and worked into personal decks for my own use. I believe encountering a Tarot card in a dream presents a rare opportunity to explore a specific archetypal symbol generated especially for me by my own subconscious self.

When you see a Tarot card in a dream, make special note of it. As quickly as you can, write a description or make a sketch of its content. When that's done, use any of the "Making Meaning" strategies described in chapter 2 to explore the message your subconscious had for you. The insights you glean in the process may surprise you!

Tarot Fast Fact

Many people (myself included) report being more aware of the symbolic meanings in everyday events after working with Tarot. That's because the same process that allows Tarot to shed light on the meanings of dreams can be used to analyze all kinds of experiences.

Try relating cards to high points (or low points) of your day, images from daydreams, points made in an argument, plot twists in a novel or movie, or even phrases taken from the lyrics of your favorite song.

Today's Experiment

Step 1: Quickly-before your dreams have a chance to fade, write down any and all details you can remember. Don't try to spin a coherent story; for now, use keywords, feelings, impressions, or symbols. Time is of the essence!

Note: if you can't recall any dreams, write an entry about how you feel upon waking, noting your mood, the quality of your rest, etc.

Step 2: Answer the following questions:

1. Did the card you worked with yesterday appear in any of your dreams?

2. Using the strategies for "Making Meaning" found in chapter 2, what meaning would you assign to the card you worked with yesterday?

3. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not clearly at all" and 10 = "very clearly"), how clearly were the themes or meanings associated with this card reflected in your dreams?

Step 3: Look through your Tarot deck. If you had to choose a card that reflected the tone, content, or theme of one of your dreams from last night, which card would you choose ... and why?

Step 4: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "little or no impact" and 10 = "very high impact"), rate the impact you feel working with yesterday's card ultimately had on your dream experience last night.

For Extra Credit

Does one of the trumps represent qualities you admire, but feel you lack? Do you, for example, long for the self-control implied by the Strength card? Do you wish you could mimic the concentration and determination of the Magician? The cool focus of the High Priestess? The organizational savvy of the Emperor? The bartending skills of Temperance? (I hear she mixes a mean chocolate martini.)

Try the "Tonight, I will see this card in my dream" technique with a card representing a skill you admire, a goal you hope to reach, or an outcome you'd like to achieve. Work with the same card for several days, continuing the process whether the card appears in your dreams or not.

At the end of a week of concentrated effort, reflect back. Have you become more proficient with the skill you identified? Have you made progress toward your goal? Have you achieved the outcome you desired ... or come closer to doing so?

Whether or not you ever consciously recall the card's appearance in your dreams, the outcome of this particular Extra Credit assignment may surprise you.

Tarot Fast Fact

How well you frame your question can be the most important factor in whether or not your time with the Tarot cards is productive and beneficial. Ask vague questions ("Why?"), and you'll get vague answers ("Why not?").

When coming up with questions, you may find it more useful to focus on What and How questions (what you can do, and how you can do it) than Why and When questions. Working with Why questions can tell you a great deal about your own motivations. Problem is, while all this navel-gazing may give you valuable insight into yourself, it won't necessarily move you to action. Worse, When questions position you as the victim of fate, waiting for the clockwork of the universe to serve up whatever events fortune has in store.

When working with Why and When questions (as you will be today), try ending your session with at least one action-oriented question, such as, "So what can I do about that?" or, "How can I change this situation for the better?"

Today's Experiment

Step 1: Compose a Why question. If you can't come up with your own, feel free to steal one of these:

• Why couldn't I come up with my own Why question?

• Why am I having so much trouble losing weight?

• Why am I angry (happy / sad / nervous / rushed) all the time?

• Why do the networks keep airing such inane television programming?

• Why don't others appreciate my genius?

• Why do people who ask so many "Why questions" tend to come across as whiny?

• Why are men so resistant to stopping and asking directions?

• Why do women ask questions like, "What are you thinking about?"

• Why did I really agree to work through this Tarot book?

Record your Why question here:

Step 2: Shuffle your Tarot deck and draw three cards to represent three possible answers to your question.

Record the names, numbers, titles, or short descriptions of your cards here:

Step 3: Using any process you prefer-or any of the "Making Meaning" strategies from chapter 2-determine a meaning for each of your three cards ... and express each as a Because statement.

Record your three possible Because statements here:

Step 4: Answer the following questions:

1. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "little or no insight" and 10 = "a great deal of insight"), how much insight did your answers give you into your Why question?

2. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not useful" and 10 = "extremely useful"), how useful do you feel this technique might be for exploring this or other Why questions in the future?

3. In your opinion, what might be a really good use for Why questions?

4. In your opinion, what challenges (if any) do Why questions pose?

For Extra Credit

After completing today's experiment, follow up your Why question with three additional cards-each designed to answer one of the following questions:

1. How does the insight from my Why question impact me?

2. How can I put this insight into action?

3. What is something I can do today to have impact on the subject of my Why question?

What kind of impact might asking follow-up questions like these have on your experience with Why questions?

Tarot Fast Fact

Frequently, ignorance and fear march hand in hand; one is usually a sign of the other.

When you tell family, friends, and coworkers that you're testing the Tarot, prepare for a variety of responses. Some will be intrigued. Others will laugh. Still others will recoil in fear. "Tarot? I've heard those cards are demonic. On television, I saw a show where one of the cards was even named The Devil. And don't most of the cards have those devil-worship pentagrams on them?"

Over time, you'll notice that the people most frightened by Tarot cards tend to be those who know the least about the deck. You can fight fear and ignorance at the same time by asking good questions ("Have you ever actually seen a Tarot deck?") and sharing good information ("Did you know the cards were invented by Italians for playing a game that's a lot like Bridge?").

Today's Experiment

Step 1: For the purposes of today's experiment, choose one of the following options:

Option A: Go through the deck and find the one Tarot card that frightens or bothers you the most.

Option B: Take a moment to identify the one thing you fear the most. Is it death? Is it loneliness? Is it growing older? Spiders, wasps, or other creepy crawlies? Whatever your greatest fear, go through your Tarot deck and find a card to represent it. (If you have trouble finding a suitable card, consider your deck's equivalent of Trump 15-often called The Devil.)

Step 2: Write the name of the card you've selected here:

Step 3: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not frightened much" and 10 = "extremely frightened"), how frightened are you of this card and/or what it represents?

Step 4: Leave this card out of the deck where you can see it. Shuffle the other cards, then draw three. Record the names of the cards you draw below:

Step 5: The table associates each card with a question. Pretend each card represents an answer to its associated question. Using whatever means you prefer-or any of the strategies for "Making Meaning" found in chapter 2-make meanings for your cards. Incorporate these meanings into answers for each question, and record your answers below.

1.

2.

3.

Step 6: Answer the following questions:

1. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not accurately at all" and 10 = "very accurately"), how accurately do you feel Card 1 captured the reason or motivation for your fear?

2. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not valuable at all" and 10 = "very valuable"), how valuable was the insight you achieved from answering Question 2?

3. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not effective at all" and 10 = "very effective"), how effective do you think the action strategy from Question 3 would be in relieving your fear?

4. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not very likely" and 10 = "extremely likely"), how likely are you to implement this strategy as a means of dealing with your fear?

5. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not effective at all" and 10 = "very effective"), how effective do you feel this exercise would be in helping others define and defuse their fears?

From the deck, select a card that represents, to you, a state of total fearlessness. Spend several minutes studying this card in detail, as though preparing to draw it from memory. If you like, assume the posture of the figure on the card, or consider what the figure on the card would say if he or she could speak to you.

Place the card representing your greatest fear or discomfort on the left, and the card representing total fearlessness on the right. Study both. How are they different? How are they alike? What elements do they have in common? How do their numbers compare? What might this suggest? What sounds would you hear in the fearful card? In the fearless one? What elements from the fearless card would, if introduced into the fearful card, disrupt its fearsome atmosphere?

The next time you encounter a fearful situation (including, perhaps, the one illustrated by the first card), take three deep, calming breaths and bring the fearless card to mind. Make this image as vivid as possible.

This application's ability to help you reduce or eliminate anxiety may surprise youand come in handy, to boot.

Tarot Fast Fact

Sister Doololly's approach to Tarot includes pure, fatalistic fortunetelling. "When I turn over a card, baby, that's that!" she says, her eighteen gold bracelets jingling like wind chimes. "The future is fixed. Three of Cups? Your girlfriend's really a lesbian. Eight of Cups? You're gonna drink yourself out of a job. And the Death card? Honey, you don't even want to talk to me about the Death card!"

Fortunately, there's another approach. Rather than see the cards as predicting a fixed future, use them to explore possible futures. What will happen if I do this? What will happen if I don't take action at all? Instead of casting you as the victim of fate, this method helps you explore the possibilities.

Today's Experiment

Complete Steps 1-7 this morning.

Complete Steps 8-10 this evening.

Step 1: For today's experiment, you need to have a question, situation, or issue in mind. Ideally, in addition to receiving advice or gaining insight, this should be a question, situation, or issue that you could take action on today. For inspiration, look over the questions below:

Make questions like these ...

• When will that guy stop taking my parking place?

• Why won't my whiny sister mind her own darn business?

• What can I tell my partner to do to improve our relationship?

• When will my boss recognize my genius and give me a raise?

• When will I meet my soul mate?

... into questions like these:

• What should I do about the guy at work who keeps stealing my parking space?

• How can I get up the courage to talk to my sister about keeping her nose out of my business?

• What can I do to improve my relationship with my partner?

• How can I encourage my boss to give me a raise?

• What can I do today as one small step toward meeting my soul mate?

It's best to choose a question that begins with the words "What" or "How," and that incorporates personal responsibility by focusing on what you can do.

Write your question in the space below:

Step 2: Shuffle your Tarot deck and draw three cards, laying them out in the form of a triangle: one card on the top row, with the two others centered beneath.

The card on the top row represents a strategy-an action or approach you could implement today in hopes of making a difference in your situation.

The card on the bottom left represents how your situation will evolve if you take no action at all.

The card on the bottom right represents what will happen if you implement the strategy represented by the card on the top row.

Step 3: Using whatever means you prefer-or any of the strategies for "Making Meaning" found in chapter 2-do your best to make a meaning for these cards. Make a record of the meanings you make in the chart below:

Step 4: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "very inappropriate" and 10 = "very appropriate"), how appropriate was the strategy you devised by making a meaning for the top card?

Step 5: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "very undesirable" and 10 = "very desirable"), how desirable is the outcome represented by the "Outcome without Action" card?

Step 6: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "very undesirable" and 10 = "very desirable"), how desirable is the outcome represented by the "Outcome with Action" card?

Step 7: Based on what you see here, decide whether you plan to implement the strategy you invented today.

Note: At this point, put the book and your Tarot cards away. Please don't read the following steps until tonight; if you do, you'll spoil the experiment.

Step 8: Before going on to Step 9, record a few notes about actions you took today, and how they impacted the situation.

Step 9: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not valuable at all" and 10 = "extremely valuable"), how valuable were the insights you gleaned from the exercise this morning?

Step 10: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not well at all" and 10 = "extremely well"), how well did the cards seem to predict the outcome produced by your action (or inaction) today?

For Extra Credit

Try drawing three cards representing three steps you can take toward achieving a specific goal. After making meanings for the cards, put the steps in the order that makes the most sense to you.

Put your steps into action, and record the outcomes. How effective was this process in helping you make progress toward your goal?

Tarot Fast Fact

Should you leave your New York penthouse apartment for a farm in Hooterville? Will that annoying couple from Wisconsin be able to complete an under-budget makeover of their neighbor's living room in just forty-eight hours? Should you make an alliance with Richard or Susan ... or should you plan to vote them both off the island? And, more importantly, might your life change for the better if you watched a bit less TV?

Every day, you're faced with dozens of "Yes or No" questions. You could flip a coin. You could consult your Magic 8-Ball. Or ... you could pull out your Tarot deck.

Some people feel asking the Tarot a "Yes or No" question amounts to handing the reins of your life over to seventy-eight laminated pieces of cardboard. Others feel completely comfortable leaving all kinds of decisions to the turn of a friendly card. In fact, one recently published and highly successful Tarot deck, the Quest Tarot (Llewellyn, 2003), incorporates symbols used to generate Yes or No answers.

Should you turn important Yes or No decisions over to the Tarot?

Wanna flip a coin for the answer?

Today's Experiment

Complete Steps 1-4 this morning.

Complete Steps 5 and 6 this evening.

Step 1: Shuffle your Tarot deck thoroughly.

Step 2: For each of the following questions, draw a single Tarot card. Count an evennumbered card as "Yes" and an odd-numbered card as "No" Record the answers you generate in the chart below. After answering a question, return your card to the deck and shuffle briefly before asking the next one.

Note: If you draw the Fool, record the answer as "Maybe"

Step 3: The first three questions ask for Yes or No advice. How did you feel about the advice offered in answer to these questions?

Step 4: Questions 4, 5, and 6 ask the Tarot to answer Yes or No questions related to matters of fact. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "total inaccuracy" and 10 = "total accuracy"), how would you rate the accuracy of the Tarot's answers to these questions?

Note: At this point, put this book and your Tarot cards away. Don't continue on to Step 5 before tonight, or you'll ruin the experiment!

Step 5: Questions 7 through 9 concerned specific events that might or might not happen during the course of your day. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "total inaccuracy" and 10 = "total accuracy"), how would you rate the accuracy of the Tarot's answers to these questions?

Step 6: Given your experience with these Yes or No questions, on a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "no faith at all" and 10 = "complete faith"), how much faith would you place in the Tarot's ability to answer these kinds of Yes or No questions?

For Extra Credit

Today's experiment assigned Yes or No answers according to an arbitrary (but popular) system. Here are some other systems for generating Yes or No answers:

• Using only the suit cards, count Coins and Cups as "Yes" and Swords and Wands as No.

• Count trumps and court cards as "Yes" and all pips as "No"

• Count any card depicting a female figure as a "Yes," a male figure as a "No," and a card depicting neither or both as a "Maybe"

• Draw three cards and add their values together. An even number equals "Yes," and an odd number equals "No"

• An upright card equals "Yes," and an upside-down card equals "No"

• Rather than depend on any objective system for Yes or No answers, study the card, make a meaning, and determine whether or not you feel the answer should be "Yes" or "No"

Experiment with these methods. Are any of them more accurate? Are any of them more satisfying? Are any of them systems you'd consider using to help you make an important decision? Why ... or why not?

Tarot Fast Fact

When making a decision, it's easy to get your thoughts and ideas jumbled up in your head. That's why so many people recommend making lists of pros and cons-the act of writing down the reasons for or against an option helps you organize and clarify your thoughts.

Using Tarot cards to explore pros and cons does something very similar. Working with the cards gets your ideas out of your head and onto the table. The result? You see your options from an entirely different perspective.

Exploring the pros and cons of a situation empowers you, enabling you to make a more informed decision. Used this way, instead of telling you what to think ... the cards become a way of thinking for yourself.

Today's Experiment

Step 1: For today's pro and con experiment, you need to find one person who is a professional, and one person who is a convicted felon.

Just kidding! Actually, for the purposes of today's experiment, you need a question concerning a possible course of action. It's best to choose an issue provoking a significant level of emotional, practical, intellectual, or financial interest. You know, the sort of situation that might normally prompt you to generate a list of pros and cons.

Examples include:

1. Should I take advantage of this new job offer?

2. Would it be wise to buy that new high-tech stock?

3. Is the time right to tell Winston I'm in love with him?

4. Should I paint the house?

5. Is this the poem I should try to publish first?

Write your Yes or No question here:

Step 2: Shuffle your Tarot deck thoroughly. Draw two cards, placing them in your "Pros" (or "reasons for") column. Next, draw two cards and place them in your "Cons" (or "reasons against") column.

Step 3: Using the "Making Meaning" strategies from chapter 2 or whatever process works for you, generate two reasons for and two reasons against the course of action. Record your pros and cons here:

Step 4: Answer the following questions:

On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "completely unsuccessful" and 10 = "very successful"), how successful were you at translating your cards into pro and con statements?

2. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "little or none" and 10 = "a great deal"), how much insight did you gain into your question during this process?

3. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "of little or no practical value" and 10 = "of great practical value"), how much practical value would you assign to yesterday's simple Yes or No process?

4. By contrast, on a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "of little or no practical value" and 10 = "of great practical value"), how much practical value would you assign to this process of exploring pros and cons?

For Extra Credit

Due to today's time constraints, we could only examine two pros and two cons. To get a better idea of the effectiveness or value of this process, try expanding on today's exercise in any of these ways:

• Draw as many as five pro and five con cards for the question under consideration.

• Draw five cards. With the goal of translating each one into a "pro," make a meaning for each. When done, translate the same five cards into "cons"

• Try moving through the deck one card at a time, quickly determining at a gut level whether you think a given card is a pro or a con and why. As you make this determination, toss the cards into a "pro pile" and a "con pile" accordingly. In the end, as a way of gauging "which way the wind is blowing," total up the number of pros vs. the number of cons.

How do these extended processes compare with the abbreviated one you tried earlier today? How effective are these processes for you?

Tarot Fast Fact

Tarot is a visual tool. As a result, you may be tempted to focus primarily on visual associations.

Memory, however, is complex and multisensory. A scent may prompt you to recall your mother's perfume, or the cookies baked by your college roommate, or your habit of making spiced wine during the holidays. A sound-a familiar song, for example-may help you recall a very specific place (the bar where you first heard the song, perhaps) in great detail. In addition to how the bar looked, you may also have access to how it smelled, how the drinks tasted, or even how you felt while dancing there. A flavor-the bitter tang of grape juice-may bring back long-suppressed memories of communion at the Baptist church of your childhood.

Using your visual sense to forge associations with the illustration on a card is a powerful method for making meaning. That said, don't forget to involve your other senses, too. Asking, "What would the people on this card be hearing?" or, "What would the people on this card be tasting?" can prompt a wide variety of associations you would never achieve when employing your visual sense alone.

Today's Experiment

Step 1: Recall an unpleasant memory or experience-a bad situation, a problematic breakup, a decision you regret, an opportunity missed, or perhaps even a period of your life that, if you could travel in time, you would alter dramatically.

Step 2: From your Tarot deck, select a card to represent yourself. Do this in any way that makes sense to you. Some options include:

• Pulling the same card you selected on Day 4.

• Selecting a card with a theme or illustration with which you identify.

• Selecting a card keyed to your sun sign or birthdate, according to the timing chart from Day 11.

• Selecting a card at random.

Which card did you choose for yourself? Record its name or describe it here, including a short note about why you selected it:

Step 3: Go through your Tarot deck and deliberately select two additional cards.

The first card should represent the events or actions associated with your unpleasant personal memory or experience. Choose a card with a title, keyword, or image that relates in some way to the event itself.

The second card should represent how you felt after going through the unpleasant experience. Choose a card with a title, keyword, or image that relates in some way to your emotional state following the incident.

Which two cards did you choose? Record their names or descriptions here, including a short note explaining why you chose these cards:

Step 4: Please answer the following questions:

1. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not unpleasant at all" and 10 = "extremely unpleasant"), how unpleasant was this experience for you at the time?

2. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not intense at all" and 10 = "extremely intense"), how intense is the emotion you feel when recalling this experience now?

Step 5: Place the cards in a straight line from left to right: the card that represents you, the card that represents the experience, and the card that represents your emotional state at the time.

Step 6: Imagine these cards give you the ability to communicate with your past self. From where you are now, you can see yourself heading toward the unpleasant experience. What message, advice, or warning would you send yourself, if you could?

Step 7: In your Tarot deck, find a card you feel represents or summarizes the warning you wish you could send. Remove this card from the deck, and place it on top of the card that represents you.

Step 8: Very deliberately, remove the cards representing the bad experience and your response to it, and return them to the deck.

Step 9: Now, using the power of your imagination, you can edit your unpleasant experience. You can change it, erase it, prevent it, or edit it in any way. Pretend you can direct this event, making it into anything you choose. What would have happened?

Find a card that represents the version of events you would have preferred. Place this card just to the left of the card that represents you. Record which card you selected, along with a note about why:

Step 10: Select a card that represents the way you would have felt had the event gone according to this new plan. Once you find it, place it to the left of the event card. Record which card you selected, along with a note about why:

Step 11: Take a moment to reflect on this change of events. On a scale from 1 to 10, (1 = "little or no impact" and 10 = "very great impact"), what emotional impact did this exercise have for you?

Step 12: What might be the benefit of using a technique like this one to "reprogram the past"? What might be the limitations of such a technique?

For Extra Credit

Later today, draw three random cards:

• Card 1 represents what you were supposed to learn from the event featured in today's experiment.

• Card 2 represents a way you've grown as a result of going through that event.

• Card 3 represents a way you can "let go" of the event and escape its emotional power.

Make a meaning for each of these cards. What insights do they suggest? How can you put these to work to make your life better?

Tarot Fast Fact

Each Tarot card amounts to a highly compressed visual library of related themes and symbols. Different artists interpret these ideas in their own distinctive styles, giving rise to a startling variety of decks. As a result, there are hundreds of Tarot decks on the market, each expressing similar concepts in different ways. Whatever your fetish, interest, passion, or obsession, trust me-your deck is out there.

Much to the delight of deck publishers like Llewellyn, once Tarot users start shopping around, we tend to find more than one deck appealing. Most Tarot aficionados own at least one or two; obsessive types (I'm among them) may own hundreds.

Owning multiple decks provides certain advantages-among them, the ability to work with "comparative readings." Popularized by Internet list owner Valerie Sim, the comparative process involves selecting corresponding cards from different decks and gleaning new insights from their differences and similarities. If the approach interests you, you'll find a warm welcome on the Comparative Tarot list. To find out more, visit www.ComparativeTarot.com.

Today's Experiment

Step 1: Reproduced on the following page are three interpretations of the same Tarot card-Trump 5-from three different Tarot decks. Take a moment to study each before moving on to Step 2.

Figure 6: The Hierophant from the Lo Scarabeo Universal Tarot, the Pope from the Medieval Enchantment deck, and the Guide from The Bright Idea Deck

Step 2: Record your answers to the following questions:

1. How are each of these cards similar?

2. How do these cards differ?

3. Which version of the card do you prefer, and why?

4. Which elements, if any, appear in all three interpretations of this card? What ideas or concepts do you associate with these repeated symbols?

Step 3: Imagine asking the question, "What aspect of my personality most hinders my personal happiness?" and drawing only one of these three cards in response.

1. What meanings might you make based solely on the first card?

2. What meanings might you make based solely on the second card?

3. Finally, what meanings might you make based solely on the third card?

Step 4: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not enhanced at all" and 10 = "greatly enhanced"), to what extent did this comparative reading enhance your reading of and insight into this card?

For Extra Credit

Even if you have only one deck, you can still take advantage of the power of comparative reading. As you work with the cards this week, give the following strategies a try:

• When a trump appears in a reading, compare it to suit cards with corresponding numbers. If the trump's number is higher than ten, just add the two digits of the trump's number together to find a comparative card. For example: the SunTrump 19-reduces to 10 (1+9=10), the number of The Wheel. You can, of course, reduce the Wheel once again: 1+0=1, the number of the Magician. How might these cards compare?

• When a court card appears in a reading-the Queen of Swords, for example-pull parallel court cards from other suits (in this case, the Queens of Coins, Cups, and Wands). Compare these to the card you did receive, gaining new insights from the similarities and differences.

• When a pip card appears in a reading, compare it to parallel cards in other suitscomparing the Five of Wands to the Five of Swords, for example.

• You might also compare your card to those which come just before and after itcomparing the Eight of Swords to the Seven and Nine.

Tarot Fast Fact

Almost every book published on self-help, self-healing, or even sales success includes a chapter on the power of visualization: picturing a desired outcome in as much detail as possible. Proponents insist playing this internal "success show" over and over in your head increases the likelihood that you'll actually achieve your goal.

Many people would be surprised to learn that visualization is, essentially, a generic, "sanitized-for-mass-consumption" version of one kind of spell-casting. In spell-casting, people often build a vivid mental or symbolic representation of their intentions in hopes of drawing closer to their goals. Visualization does the same thing, but most people think of visualization as psychology, not magic.

Today, many people still associate Tarot cards with magical practice, and the cards may always have purely metaphysical applications in the minds of some. However, as the cards become increasingly accepted as practical tools, they'll likely be thought of in purely psychological terms, as well.

Today's Experiment

Complete Steps 1-8 this morning.

Complete Step 9 this evening.

Step 1: For the purposes of today's experiment, choose one of the following goals:

• A possible, but uncertain event you'd like to have happen today.

• A person you'd like to see or hear from.

• A small change you'd like to make in yourself or your world.

• A small victory you'd like to win (like sticking to your diet).

Whatever goal you choose for today's experiment, it should be:

• Specific. Define the goal as simply and clearly as possible. "Save $5.00 by the end of the day" is better than "Spend less money today."

• Concrete. Achieving your goal should create a condition that an outside observer could easily verify, just by watching a videotape of your day.

• Reasonable. Avoid the urge to pick goals like, "I will win the lottery" or, "A stranger will give me a free Lexus." Go with the kind of practical goal that you're likely to achieve in the course of a single day.

• Positive. Instead of saying, "I won't cheat on my diet today," say, "I will make mealtime choices that support my weight-loss goals."

Step 2: Search through your Tarot deck until you find a card you feel represents the situation you've selected. (Having a good meal with an old friend might be represented by the Four of Wands, for example. Beating an aggressive deadline might be represented by the Eight of Coins.)

Which card did you choose? Record a name, title, or short description here:

Step 3: Hold the card in your hand and close your eyes. As vividly as possible, picture yourself meeting your goal.

• A smoker might imagine herself feeling the urge to smoke ... then putting her cigarettes aside and talking to a friend instead.

• A dieter might see himself leaving lunch, proud and excited that he made great choices.

• A sales rep might picture herself leaving the client's office with a glow of satisfaction-and a signed contract in hand.

• A student might envision taking a test with confidence ... and experiencing extreme satisfaction upon receiving a high score.

• A shy person might watch a mental movie in which he finally speaks to that cute copier repairman and elicits a smile in the process.

• A football player might experience all the physical exertion and thrill of breaking through resistance to make a touchdown.

The key? Experience your victory in advance. Pause now and picture your achievement, whatever it may be, in full 3-D Technicolor Surround Sound with Smell-o-Vision.

Step 4: What will you see, feel, hear, or experience the moment you reach your goal? Describe your moment of victory here:

Step 5: What evidence would an outside observer have that you had, in fact, reached your goal?

Step 6: In your mind, how does the card you chose relate to or capture this moment?

Step 7: Rather than return this card to your Tarot deck, place it where you will see it often throughout the day.

If you work from home, you might put the card on the mantle, place it on a table by the door, or stick it to the fridge with those tacky magnets your roommate bought on his trip to Hawaii.

If you work at an office, do what responsible employees always do before diverting corporate resources for their own use: get permission to make a personal photocopy of your card, then make out a requisition form in triplicate for the pushpins you'll use when securing the card to the wall of your corporate cube. (Yeah, right!)

If you work in your car, use a rubber band to secure the card to your sun visor, or tape the upper edge of the card to your dashboard.

If you're a computer whiz, make a scan of your card and use it as the wallpaper on your reasonably priced Windows PC or your elegantly designed but overpriced and overhyped Mac.

In other words, place the card-or some version of it-where it can serve as a frequent reminder of your goal.

Step 8: Go about your day. Each time you confront the card, pause just a moment to call up your internal movie of success ... and enjoy a brief but engaging private matinee.

Note: At this point, please put this book aside. Complete the final steps this evening ... but don't read on now, or you'll spoil the experiment!

Step 9: Record your answers to the following questions:

1. About how many times today did your card remind you of your goal?

2. Did you achieve your goal for the day?

3. On a scale from 1 to 10 (where 1 = "no difference" and 10 = "a great deal of difference"), how much difference did your card work make in your effort to achieve your goal today?

For Extra Credit

A single day presents a very limited opportunity to explore the power of positive visualization with Tarot cards. Whatever your results today, try the following:

1. Select a goal that may take a week or more to achieve.

2. Select cards representing that goal ... and, perhaps, multiple cards representing a series of steps you'll take in order to reach it.

3. Arrange these cards in a deliberate manner that is significant to you: frame them, lay them out in a circle or other pattern that represents progress, or keep them in a place of honor in your home.

4. Throughout the week, spend some time with the cards. Refer to them, revisit your "mental movie" of achievement, and do whatever you can to reinforce the idea that these cards are a symbol of your success.

What results do you achieve? How do these results differ from other attempts you've made to reach this or a similar goal? What impact does your work with the cards have on your ability to define and achieve your intentions?

Tarot Fast Fact

A mandala is a geometric design used as a meditation aid. Contemplating the mandalaappreciating its form, becoming familiar with its components, and exploring the relationships suggested by its arrangement-is said to alter the consciousness of the user.

In his book The Buddha Tarot Companion (Llewellyn, 2004), artist Robert Place concludes that the Tarot itself is a complex mandala. Having worked with Tarot for years, I'd agree. Choosing a deck, shuffling the cards, and contemplating a spread automatically puts me in a creative, reflective, and receptive frame of mind ... even when I'm reading for the public in hectic environments like book fairs and trade shows.

After a few minutes problem solving with the cards, I deal more effectively with the challenges of my day. I'm more focused, more objective, more confident, and more selfdirected. I'm calmer and more compassionate. In short, I'm a better person.

Today's Experiment

Complete Steps 1-6 this morning.

Complete Steps 7-9 this evening.

Step 1: Bring to mind someone you have difficulty understanding or getting along with (preferably, someone you'll see, meet, or encounter today).

This could be a specific family member, an employer, an employee, a neighbor-or even an entire class of annoying people, like, say, those folks who allow their rowdy kids to terrorize other tables at nice restaurants, or, for example, Republicans.

Step 2: If, as I did, you snapped your pencil in half while visualizing the annoying person in Step 1, get another pencil before moving on to Step 3.

Step 3: Record the name, role, or a brief description of the offending party here:

Step 4: Shuffle your Tarot deck and draw three cards. Record a name, title, or short description for each card here:

Step 5: Arrange your cards into a line from left to right: Card 1, Card 2, Card 3.

• Card 1 represents a reason why this person deserves your compassion and understanding. (Make this a good reason, by the way. For example: if Card 1 is The Fool, generate a reason like, "Because he or she is young, and young people frequently have trouble understanding how their actions impact others." Avoid reasons like, "Because he's an idiot.")

• Card 2 represents an insight into this person's experience-some personal fact that, once you know it, causes you to see her in an entirely different light. You might, for example, draw the Ten of Wands, and say, "This woman probably spends all day at home with her kids; this dinner out may be her only chance for adult conversation."

• Card 3 represents something compassionate you can do to moderate your reaction and smooth your interaction with this person. The Four of Swords, for example, might simply remind you to take four deep, calming breaths before taking action. The Six of Coins might prompt you to ask the manager for a different table. The Eight of Cups might suggest just walking away when the employee in the cube next to yours makes an inappropriate comment about your new outfit.

Make meanings for each of your cards, and record the results here:

Step 6: When you encounter this person later today:

• take three deep breaths,

• bring these cards to mind, and

• take the compassionate action you envisioned in Step 5.

Note: For now, put this book and your cards aside. Return to the book this evening ... but don't read the following steps until then, or you'll spoil the experiment!

Step 7: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "completely unsuccessful" and 10 = "completely successful"), how successful were your efforts to implement your compassionate course of action today?

Step 8: In the space below, describe the extent to which today's exercise had impact on your situation:

Step 9: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "extremely ineffective" and 10 = "extremely effective"), how effective do you think this exercise could be in helping you see others differently and identify more compassionate responses to annoyance?

For Extra Credit

In your Tarot deck, find one card which you feel embodies the sort of compassionate approach to others that you'd like to take on a consistent, long-term basis. For example, if you want to encourage and embody:

• a sense of self-control and patience, you might choose Strength

• a dedication to taking appropriate action, you might choose justice

• a spirit of celebration, you might choose the Three of Cups

• a devotion to prayerfulness, you might choose the Four of Swords.

Spend some time with some form of this card every day. Imagine taking actions inspired by its approach. In your mind, generate challenging situations, and picture how the energy defined by this card will help you cope with those situations in positive ways.

After a week of this practice, what changes do you notice? How does your work with the card impact your progress toward more mindful, more compassionate living?

Tarot Fast Fact

Card decks have long been recognized as simple, inexpensive, and easily randomized resources for all kinds of experiments with perception.

Joseph Banks Rhine was never as famous as, say, Britney Spears, but he did earn brief notoriety in the 1930s for publishing a groundbreaking study of what he called "extra-sensory perception," or ESP. While skeptics and true believers continue to debate the validity of his findings, the testing tool he created with colleague Karl Zener-a twenty-five card deck featuring stars, wavy lines, circles, and squares-is widely recognized even today as "those ESP cards."

Today's Experiment

Chances are, efforts to find a deck of Zener cards (a deck used to test for psychic ability) at the local Wal-Mart will end in frustration. Let's face it: most people would rather spend an evening shouting, "Draw Four!" and, "Uno!" than spend a quiet hour investigating their own precognitive abilities.

So what's a budding paranormal investigator to do? While you could use an Uno deck-or a Rook deck, or even a common poker deck, for that matter-to test your psychic power, predicting whether or not the next card will be a Wild Draw Four lacks a certain cachet. Tarot to the rescue!

Step 1: From your trusty Tarot deck, pull five trumps and five cards from each of the four suits-a total of twenty-five cards.

Step 2: Put the rest of your Tarot deck aside, then give these twenty-five cards a thorough shuffle.

Step 3: Place the cards facedown on the table in front of you.

Step 4: Before you draw each card, attempt to receive a mental impression of whether the card is a trump or one of the four suit cards. (That's my fancy, metaphysical way of saying, "Make a guess.") Some tips:

• Don't force it. Just go with the first answer that comes to mind.

• Don't worry about getting it right. Celebrate both errors and accuracy.

• Don't count cards. Tracking how many Cups or Swords may help, but it's cheating.

On a sheet of paper, write down what you anticipate the card will be.

Step 5: Reveal the top card, record what the card actually was, and note whether your impression was right or wrong.

Step 6: Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have gone through the entire twenty-five card deck.

Step 7: How many times were your guesses correct?

Step 8: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "did not conform at all" and 10 = "conformed completely"), to what extent did your performance conform to your expectations?

For Extra Credit

Try conducting this experiment once a day over several days. To what extent is your performance consistent?

Some variables to explore:

• To what extent does your performance seem to be influenced by mood or time of day?

• Try working with a friend, asking him or her to track (but not reveal) the accuracy of your answers.

• In one experimental run, have your friend look at the card before you guess it. In the next, have him or her check the card only after your guess has been recorded. Any differences?

• Ask a friend to respond positively and enthusiastically to each of your guesses ("Very, very good!") regardless of whether they're right or wrong. How does this influence your performance?

• Ask a friend to respond negatively ("Oh, no, that's not right at all!") to each guess. What influence does this appear to exert?

• Swap roles, verifying your friend's performance. Do either one of you seem to be, by nature, a better "sender" or "receiver"?

• Invite a friend with Tarot cards to administer the experiment over the telephone, from a distance. How does proximity to the "sender" impact your success?

Tarot Fast Fact

Visual brainstorming has long been a staple of the corporate world. Marketing executives "riff" on random images, making wild associations, in order to generate sassy new ads. Consultants ask managers and executives to sketch their ideas in hopes of helping them literally "see what they think." In order to freshen perspectives and forge unexpected insights, trainers ask participants to consider how their challenge or issue compares to something completely divorced from the subject matter ("How is call center traffic like a river?").

The best Tarot readers have been using visual brainstorming for decades! Associating the Tarot's randomized images with your situation prompts you to consider answers and approaches you'd otherwise overlook. But the benefits don't stop there; as today's experiment will demonstrate, the cards can also become a powerful platform for boosting both your mental agility and personal creativity.

For more on Tarot and brainstorming, visit www.TarotTools.com.

Today's Experiment

Step 1: Select a friend, partner, spouse, or family member in need of a pleasant little surprise-nothing fancy, just a little "boost" that would make his or her day brighter. Write that person's name here:

Step 2: From your Tarot deck, pull the first five trumps (or their equivalents):

• The Fool

• The Magician

• The High Priestess

• The Empress

• The Emperor

Place these cards on the table in front of you, where you can see them easily.

Step 3: Review the following list of qualities traditionally associated with each card:

Step 4: With the goal in mind of surprising or delighting the person you identified in Step 1, "poll" the five cards in front of you, asking each one, "What would you do?"

It may be that the expression on the character's face, some element in the illustration itself, or even your previous experience with the card will immediately suggest an option. You might notice, for example, that the Empress is outdoors; this might suggest taking your friend for a nature walk.

If you get stuck, you can refer to the table above, using the "Type of Person" column to prompt additional ideas. Faced with The Fool, you might ask what a total "beginner" would do for your spouse of twenty years, prompting you to recall the spontaneous road trips you took as newlyweds. While pondering the Emperor as "military commander," you might be inspired to take your teenage son out for a game of paintball or laser tag.

Relax, have fun, and go with the first ideas that come to your mind-whether they seem practical or not.

List at least five possible ideas for action here:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Step 5: Answer the following questions:

1. About how long did it take you to come up with five answers?

2. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "no impact" and 10 = "very significant impact"), how did your work with the cards seem to impact the speed and facility with which you generated these ideas?

3. Based on today's experiment, on a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "very ineffective" and 10 = "very effective"), how effective do you think this method of polling the trumps might be as a tool for prompting a list of ideas, options, and answers?

For Extra Credit

Today's experiment is a short form of a technique I created, called, "What Would the Trumps Do?" I use it almost every day to generate everything from gift ideas to plot twists in my fiction.

Using either your own meaning-making process or a list of traditional meanings, construct a chart similar to the one offered in today's experiment for all twenty-two trumps. (To save time, you're welcome to steal a list I've already prepared for you at www.TarotTools.com. Find it fast by Googling "What Would the Trumps Do?")

Giving yourself just ten minutes on the clock, try today's experiment ... but poll all twenty-two trumps for their wisdom and advice. With practice, you'll be able to generate from twenty to forty new ideas, options, or insights in record time!

Tarot Fast Fact

Author Rachel Pollock promotes the use of the Tarot to explore wisdom questionsthose inquiries intended purely to question assumptions, encourage discussion, open consciousness, or prompt insight. A wisdom question isn't meant to generate definitive answers; instead, your answers will likely produce a list of "things that make you go `Hmmmmm."'

If you're interested in learning more about wisdom questions, read Rachel Pollock's Forest of Souls (Llewellyn, 2002).

Today's Experiment

Step 1: Select one of life's so-called "Big Questions" to explore. If today is one of those days when little questions ("Where'd I put those car keys, darn it?") are obscuring the Big Questions, help yourself to a Big Question from the list below:

• Why am I here?

• What is the purpose of life?

• Where do the dead go?

• What role do I play in the story of the universe?

• What is the Bible?

• How can I deepen my sense of the divine?

• What does prayer really do?

• How can I make a difference?

• What does God think of me?

• What is my work with Tarot supposed to teach me?

Write the question you selected below:

Step 2: From your Tarot deck, draw three cards.

Step 3: Using any method you prefer, generate three different answers for your Big Question-one answer per card.

Answers may complement each other ... or contradict each other! Remember, the goal is to explore the question-not author "The Definitive Answer."

Record your three answers here:

1.

2.

3.

Step 4: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not very interesting" and 10 = "extremely interesting"), how interesting were the insights you generated with this experiment?

Step 5: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not very useful" and 10 = "extremely useful"), how useful were the insights you generated with this experiment?

Step 6: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not very effective" and 10 = "extremely effective"), how effective is Tarot as a tool for exploring the Big Questions?

For Extra Credit

Why not bring a group together for an evening spent exploring the Big Questions?

Write questions on slips of paper, toss 'em into a hat, and draw one. Have one of the attendees shuffle the Tarot deck, then draw a single card (or a series of cards) representing an answer.

Based on his or her personal impression of the card, allow each member of the group to express an answer to the Big Question under consideration.

Bonus: Want a healthy dose of some simple, practical wisdom? Play this game with your niece, nephew, son, daughter, or other friend under the age of thirteen.

Tarot Fast Fact

Tarot enthusiasts occasionally mention the "voice" of a Tarot deck, referring to the attitude, personality, or sense of humor they feel a specific deck projects. At one recent Tarot conference, I heard a group of people characterizing certain decks as harsh, frank, playful, comforting ... even combative!

Whether a deck of cards can project such attributes-or whether their owners are merely projecting aspects of their own personalities onto the cards-remains to be seen. But if cars and computers can be seen as cranky or uncooperative, spiteful or faithful ... why not the Tarot?

Today's Experiment

Step 1: Select a historical person-preferably someone you admire, but perhaps just someone you'd like to know better. Examples include: Moses, Cleopatra, the Apostle Paul, Leonardo da Vinci, Jane Austen, Florence Nightingale, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., or John F. Kennedy.

Write the name of your historical figure here:

Step 2: Think of a question you'd like to ask this person. Record your question here:

Step 3: Shuffle your Tarot deck thoroughly and draw three cards. Record the name, title, or short description of each of your three cards here:

Step 4: Imagine that each of your three cards represents one of three statements made by your historical figure of choice:

Card I-His or her answer to your question

Card 2-Something he or she learned in life

Card 3-A tip he or she offers in hopes of improving your life

Using any method for making meaning that you prefer, translate your cards into responses. Record your answers here:

Step 5: Answer the following questions:

On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not surprising" and 10 = "extremely surprising"), how surprising were the insights you gleaned from this exercise?

2. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not valuable" and 10 = "extremely valuable"), how valuable were the insights you gleaned from this exercise?

3. What are some ideas for putting this application to practical use?

For Extra Credit

For interesting results, substitute an ancestor, a trusted teacher (living or deceased), your Highest Self, or your guardian angel for the historical figure consulted in today's experiment.

How does this change impact your experience of the process? The accuracy of the response? The value you assign to the result?

Tarot Fast Fact

As we age, we become more and more aware of the cycles that dominate our lives. Friendships come and go. Passion blossoms, fades, and blossoms again. One day, we're climbing the corporate ladder ... the next, we're a celebrated CEO ... and the next, we're being replaced by a fresh-faced apprentice who's still wet behind the ears.

In both its illustrations and structure, the Tarot incorporates and acknowledges cycles such as these. This is one reason, perhaps, why the deck works so well as a mirror of our lives. The Moon card waxes and wanes. The Wheel turns, carrying us up to the pinnacle ... and bringing us down again.

As a whole, the Trumps are often interpreted as a cyclical story: "the journey of the Fool." We start in innocence, learn through trial, and achieve a measure of insight and experience ... only to discover that each time we master one World (Trump 21), we must start the process over again (Trump 0-The Fool) in order to master the next.

Even the lowly pips reflect the cyclical nature of life, moving from desire to action, action to disruption, disruption to cooperation, cooperation to reflection, reflection to acquisition ... and back around to desire again.

Stepping outside this cycle-becoming aware of our place in the flow of events-is often positioned as the first step on the road to enlightenment. Working with the Tarot can help us make that step. Sitting down with the cards represents a conscious decision to pause, reflect, weigh options, and gain perspective on our own actions and motivations.

Today's Experiment

For many people, the idea of past lives is a foregone conclusion. "Of course I've lived before," they say. "How could anyone possibly get as screwed up as I am in the course of a single lifetime?"

For others, the concept of reincarnation makes no sense at all. It flies in the face of their religious beliefs ... or even their beliefs about the nature of the universe. For them, the idea that The Wheel turns once-and only once-is a comfort. "All that going around and around would make me dizzy," they say. "Besides, believing that I get just one shot at life encourages me to get more out of it!"

Believers in reincarnation won't bat an eye at today's experiment ... but folks in the second group, for understandable reasons, may balk at the idea of using the cards to illuminate past lives. "I put up with yesterday's weird business of using the cards to talk with Abraham Lincoln," they say. "But I gotta draw the line somewhere! After all, how can the cards possibly give me insight into a past life that never happened?"

With this objection in mind, I'd like to introduce a concept I've found useful: the Symbolic Personal Narrative (or SPN). An SPN is any story, factual or fanciful, that you tell about yourself.

When you share a cherished childhood memory, you spin an SPN. When you tell me about your vacation in Australia, you spin an SPN. When you tell me why you left the Catholic church, you spin an SPN. When you relate last week's blind date with that guy who always dresses like a Star Trek character, you spin an SPN. When you tell me about last night's dream, you spin an SPN.

When you tell these stories, I don't get "just the facts, m'am." I get your personal take on the facts, your subjective perceptions of what happened and why. How you tell your story-the words you choose, the order of events, the emotion you project, the interpretation you offer-says a lot about you. What you choose to emphasize (and what you choose to edit out) says even more.

In other words, every act of storytelling creates an intensely personal, highly symbolic tale-the verbal equivalent of a Tarot spread. For anyone attuned to such content, your stories are packed with symbolic information revealing a great deal about your personal worldview.

So, today's experiment invites you to explore a past life. If you believe in reincarnation, you may see this as a voyage of discovery into experiences you've forgotten.

If you don't believe in reincarnation, you can still play. Instead of recovering fragments of a past life, though, you'll be creating a deliberate SPN-in this case, a fanciful story, by and about you, offering insights into who you are, what you value, and why.

In the long run, what you learn from analyzing your SPN may prove far more valuable than discovering you were once an Egyptian tent maker.

Step 1: Shuffle your Tarot deck thoroughly.

Step 2: Draw four cards at random, placing them facedown on the table before you.

Step 3: Start by revealing the first card on the left-your Setting card. Allow the title, keywords, numbers, or symbols on this card to inspire ideas about the time and place of your past life. The Justice card, for example, might call Solomon's court to mind. The illustration on certain versions of the Six of Swords might suggest Washington crossing the Delaware River. Drawing the Three of Wands might prompt an arbitrary decision that you're dealing with a life you lived three hundred years ago.

What conclusions do you reach about the setting of your past life? Record your impressions here:

Step 4: Reveal the second card from the left-your Occupation card. Allow the title, keywords, numbers, or symbols on this card to inspire ideas about the work you did in your past life. In some decks, the Magician's upraised arm may suddenly strike you as a blacksmith's pose. Learning that one old meaning for the Eight of Wands is "news" might prompt a vision of a herald in an English court. Drawing the Queen of Cups may suggest a former career as a priestess, oracle, or seer. (So that's why you're so good with these Tarot cards!)

What conclusions do you reach about your former profession? Record your impressions here:

Step 5: Reveal the third card-your Achievement card. Allow the title, keywords, numbers, or symbols on this card to inspire ideas about your former self's greatest achievement. Revealing the Lovers, for example, might suggest you beat the odds and found your soul mate. The King of Coins might prompt you to recall the pride you felt over the wealth you amassed ... or even the disappointment you felt when you discovered wealth and satisfaction don't always go hand in hand. Confronting an illustration often found on the Seven of Swords might remind a thieving former self of his greatest heist ever!

What conclusions do you reach about your former self's greatest achievement? Record your impressions here:

Step 6: Reveal the final card-your Lesson card. Allow the title, keywords, numbers, or symbols on this card to inspire ideas about the lesson you learned in the course of living this previous life. Does the Five of Wands indicate you discovered the futility of war? Might the Pope suggest you decided you'd had enough of organized religion? Could the Knight of Wands mean you learned the importance of thinking before acting?

What conclusions do you reach about the lesson you learned? Record your impressions here:

Step 7: Whether or not you believe in reincarnation, how do you feel about this exercise?

Step 8: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "no insight at all" and 10 = "a great deal of insight"), how much insight into your present-day character, mindset, and motivations do you feel this experiment had to offer?

Step 9: On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not well suited at all" and 10 = "extremely well suited"), how well suited do you think the Tarot is as a tool for exploring past lives?

For Extra Credit

Use today's experimental method to build a small gallery of past lives-four or five at least. Do common themes emerge? Repeated occupations? Repeated lessons?

Alternatively, use this experimental method to gain insight into your current life. How well do the cards reflect your present reality? What insights, if any, do they offer into the purpose and meaning of the life you're living today?

Tarot Fast Fact

Fortunetelling and Tarot reading both employ Tarot cards ... but these two terms refer to two very different practices.

Fortunetelling seeks to reveal the future: something locked in place, engraved in stone, and inescapable. It positions us as victims of fate-helpless bystanders who watch with delight or horror as events unfold around us. Will I be happy? Will I be rich? Que sera, sera.

Tarot reading, by contrast, pursues a different goal: enlightened choice. To a Tarot reader, the cards represent potentials, influences, and options. The process of reading the cards-really, the process of making meaning-encourages us to adopt a broader perspective and a more thoughtful approach to life. As a result of our reading, we are empowered. We approach life with more creativity, more flexibility ... and more control.

Today's Experiment

Today's experiment offers you the opportunity to perform a Tarot reading for another person.

Frankly? Whether you believe in Tarot or not, offering a reading to others takes guts. After all, you're asking them to share an important issue with you, and you're taking on the responsibility of helping them decode whatever messages and insights the cards have to offer. There's risk on both sides of the equation.

Before you read for anyone else, I suggest you complete this experiment yourself. Become comfortable with the process, the positional meanings, and the business of weaving five individual insights together into a coherent story.

At that point, if you absolutely cannot scrape up the courage to offer a reading to a friend or family member ... that's cool. You don't have to. You won't disappoint me, or anything. Really.

That said, I must also point out that the process of reading for others teaches you a great deal about Tarot ... and about yourself. It's an experience everyone who works with the cards should have at least once.

Step 1: Invite an acquaintance, friend, or family member to share the reading process. If you prefer, and if you have a means of doing so, you might also approach a stranger. (If you work with a stranger, trust me, don't start the conversation by saying, "I've just learned a new technique ... mind if I try it out on you?" People tend to take such questions the wrong way.)

Step 2: When you invite your participant to join you for a reading, be honest. Don't be afraid to say any of the following:

• I'm not sure I believe in this, but I find it interesting.

• I'm conducting an experiment into whether or not Tarot works, and I need your help.

• I've been working with the cards about a month, and I'd like to show you what I've learned.

• This is all still new to me, and I'd like to see what you think about it.

• I'm convinced there's something going on here, and I want to share it with you.

• This is an assignment for a self-study course I'm taking. Will you help me?

Step 3: Secure a time and place when the two of you will be free from distractions. Turn off telephones, cell phones, pagers, and other electronic devices that might interrupt your train of thought. Ask children and other family members to amuse themselves for the next fifteen to twenty minutes, and encourage them to respect your need for privacy.

Step 4: Set expectations. Make sure the participant knows the point of the exerciseyour ultimate goal-is to generate insights that might prove beneficial or helpful. You aren't out to impress anyone with your reading skill, you aren't going to try to spook anyone by revealing dark secrets, and you aren't going to tell anyone's fortune. Instead, the process you offer should help your participant see an important decision from a new perspective.

Step 5: In perhaps the most important step of all, determine the question you'll explore together. Prompt your participant to ask an effective question by suggesting she begin her question with, "What can I do to . . "or, "How can I . . " If Yes/No, Why, or When questions come to mind, try rephrasing them into more action-oriented forms. Once the question is defined, write it down:

Step 6: Allow the participant to shuffle the cards. Mystics will say this attunes the deck to your participant's life energy. Practical types know from experience that participants, shocked at how directly the cards address their questions, often accuse the Tarot reader of stacking the deck. Giving the participant the opportunity to shuffle the deck reduces the odds that you'll be accused of "cheating."

Step 7: Pull the top three cards from the deck and place them faceup in a line from left to right, saying, "This card suggests one approach, this card suggests another approach, and this final card hints at how you can know the best possible course of action."

Record a name, title, number, or short description of each of your three cards here:

1.

2.

3.

Step 8: When reading cards for yourself, the goal is to figure out what the cards mean for you. Reading the cards for others changes your goal. Now, it's your job to help the participant figure out what the cards mean to him or her.

This isn't as easy as it sounds. Once, a woman I was reading for drew the Eight of Cups in response to the question, "What can I do to encourage my boyfriend to stop stealing my jewelry and selling it for drug money?"

Figure 7.• Eight of Cups from the Universal Tarot

To me, the card screamed, "Leave the loser!" To the participant, though, the same card suggested, "Try having the conversation on a day when the guy hasn't been out drinking all night." Go figure!

Said another way, rather than dictate the meaning of the cards, help the participant to make his or her own meaning. Some useful strategies for doing this include asking your participant to:

• Tell a story about each card. What has just happened? What's happening now? What is about to happen?

• Identify one thing on a card that stands out the most, then make a list of meanings he or she associates with that item.

• Describe the card to you as though describing it to a friend on the telephone.

• Pretend the card is a note from a friend who can only talk using pictures. What would this picture say?

If a reluctant participant insists he wants you to make a meaning, make one-but only one. In the process, reveal how you arrive at the meaning you see, and then turn the job of making meaning back over to the participant.

For example, you might say, "When I look at the Hanged Man, I notice the fact this man is upside-down. To me, that suggests a need to look at your situation from a completely different perspective. What did you notice first about the card? What might that suggest?"

Record the meanings your participant makes here:

Step 9: Refine the results. At first, your participant's meanings may not be in the form of an option or recommendation. To help with this, ask questions like:

• How would you phrase that in the form of a recommendation?

• What's the "moral" of the memory (or story) you just recalled? What did it teach you? How might that apply in this case?

• Can you capture what you just said and phrase it as a piece of short, direct advice?

Step 10: Write down the meanings you agree upon and provide a copy to the participant.

Step 11: Ask the participant to answer the following question:

On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "no insight at all" and 10 = "a great deal of insight"), how much insight into your question would you say this process gave you?

Record the participant's answer here:

Step 12: Thank the participant for his or her help.

Step 13: Answer the following questions:

1. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not comfortable at all" and 10 = "extremely comfortable"), how comfortable were you with your role as guide and interpreter during the reading session?

2. On a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = "not helpful at all" and 10 = "extremely helpful"), how helpful do you think your participant found this reading to be?

3. Record any other impressions or conclusions about the reading you delivered today here:

For Extra Credit

Deliver readings to five other people using the experimental method outlined above. Note how different people respond differently to the cards and the reading process in general. What aspects of their nature, in your opinion, influence their responses? Which readings "worked best" in your opinion? What happens when a reading "works?"

Tarot Fast Fact

Experts claim it takes just twenty-one days to form a new habit.

You've been working with Tarot on a daily basis for almost nine days longer than that! Congratulations-now you're one of very few people who can claim they've conducted a personal exploration of Tarot's applications.

Like other participants, tomorrow you may discover that you reach for your cards as soon as you wake up ... only to realize that the program is over! But the end of this book doesn't have to mean an end to your daily work with the cards. A reading for yourself is a great way to start the day. Drawing a card or two each morning can become your personal focusing ritual, helping you recall your goals and channel your energy into the most positive channels possible.

There's also a huge community of other Tarot users out there, many of whom are eager to help you make the most of your newfound skills. The Internet makes it easier than ever to find other people who are interested in constructive applications of Tarot. Some suggestions:

• Check out the Comparative Tarot group at www.ComparativeTarot.com.

• Visit Diane Wilkes' excellent Tarot Passages website, www.TarotPassages.com, where you can see sample cards from and read reviews of thousands of Tarot decks.

• Browse the Tarot-related articles that are available through the Llewellyn Journal at www.llewellyn.com.

• Visit me at www.TarotTools.com for further tips and suggestions on integrating Tarot into your personal and professional life.

Thirty days ago, way back in chapter 1, you answered a series of questions-the Tarot equivalent of your "before" photo. Now, without looking back, answer the same questions again-creating, in the process, an "after" photo.

After you complete the exit survey, today's experiment asks you to compare your before and after photos in an effort to document changes in your attitudes and beliefs.

For now, just mark your answers to the questions in the following exit survey.

1. Which of the following best describes your attitude toward Tarot today?

I am absolutely and totally convinced that Tarot is bunk. It's the stuff of storefront psychics, frauds, and cheats. It's for weak-minded people who need to be told what to do and can't bear to think for themselves. It's right up there with rabbits' feet and lucky charms and Things That Go Bump in the Night. I'm as likely to use Tarot for personal insight as I am to use leeches to reduce my blood pressure.

I wouldn't say Tarot is a fraud, but I'm not convinced Tarot "works" in any meaningful way. Very likely, most of what Tarot has to say is so general that it could be made to fit any situation ... and any success in prediction is more a matter of coincidence than anything else.

At this point, I don't have an attitude toward Tarot either way. I'm completely neutral.

I think something might be going on with Tarot-but I'm not sure what, or why. I've seen some people do things with the cards that I found interesting, and I'm intrigued by the possibilities. While I'm not quite ready to put on a turban and call myself "The Great Mysterioso," I am curious and I'd like to know more.

I'm absolutely, totally convinced that Tarot works. I've got a Tarot collection that shocks most of my friends and family, and I consult the cards on a regular basis. I guess you could call me a True Believer-in fact, I think the world would be a better place if everyone owned a deck of Tarot cards and used them every day.

2. How likely are you to want to "have your cards read" by someone else?

- Not very likely. Frankly, I'd rather have a long, slow root canal.

- Somewhat likely. I might do it at gunpoint, for example.

- Likely. I think it would be cool to have this done once every so often.

- Very likely. I'd like to have my cards read at least once a month or so.

Extremely likely. In fact, I want a reading every hour on the hour, just in case there's something coming up I really need to know about.

3. How likely are you to "read the cards" for yourself?

Not very likely. I'd just as soon try to divine the future using raw goat livers!

Somewhat likely. I stopped thinking Tarot was cool when I stopped attending slumber parties with the other neighborhood nine-year-olds.

Likely. I've read my own cards pretty often. I do, however, have a life, so my interest waxes and wanes over time.

Very likely. In fact, Tarot cards are a regular part of my routine.

- Extremely likely. I dare not make a single move without pulling a card from my trusty Tarot companion. In fact, before answering this question, I pulled a card in order to know which option to choose. Now, though, you'll have to excuse me; I have to finish this survey so I can finish my pre-lunch Tarot card reading so I won't be late for the one I've scheduled in the early afternoon.

4. Do you "read the cards" for other people?

Nope. Never.

- I might have, once or twice, but I managed not to make a habit of it.

I read for others about as often as I go to church-once or twice a year.

- I deliver at least one reading a month.

- I read for others on a daily or weekly basis.

5. How spooky, scary, or "occult" do you think Tarot is?

It's not spooky ... it's just plain stupid.

- I don't think it's spooky at all.

- Okay, I admit it's a little spooky ... you know, like a creepy movie can be spooky, but in a good, nonthreatening way.

- Tarot is pretty darn spooky. In fact, I get goosebumps just looking at the cards.

- Tarot is hands-down the most terrifying thing in the universe, apart from a long, slow IRS tax audit.

6. To what extent do you think working with this book has influenced your attitude toward Tarot?

I know it all about most subjects, and Tarot is no exception. Completing this program did little more than confirm my preconceptions that Tarot is just so much New Age metaphysical gobbledygook.

The program changed my attitude a little ... but not much.

I'm unsure how this program changed my attitude toward Tarot.

I think this program suggested several new applications and uses for Tarot that I will find useful and beneficial.

This program totally and completely converted me to the Tarot cause. In fact, I'm almost ready to quit my day job and start teaching Tarot and reading cards for a living!

7. Complete this sentence: `At this point, I think Tarot cards can be effectively and beneficially be used for ..." (Pick as many as apply.)

Swindling the weak-minded.

Revealing set futures that are fated to come to pass.

Exploring many possible futures.

Brainstorming new ideas, answers, and approaches.

Leveling a short table leg.

"Seeing what you think" about a situation or question.

Trying out a strategy or solution before putting that strategy or solution into place in real life.

Boosting personal creativity.

Improving your own intuition.

Facilitating meditation.

Building attractive card houses.

Anticipating the most likely outcome of a given situation.

Increasing your awareness and making you more perceptive.

Enhancing your feelings of control or confidence.

Communicating with the dead.

Enhancing your objectivity with regard to a question or situation.

Writing or telling interesting stories.

Frightening children (and some adults) at slumber parties and Halloween.

Working magic and casting spells.

Playing a trick-taking game like Bridge, Rook, or Spades.

8. On a scale from 1 to 10 (I= "not certain at all" and 10 = "extremely certain") how certain are you that you could look at a Tarot card and determine what that card means?

9. If it weren't for your participation in this program, how likely would you be to use Tarot over the next thirty days?

Very unlikely.

Unlikely.

Unsure.

Likely.

Very likely.

10. How likely are you to buy a Tarot deck for yourself in the next thirty days?

Very unlikely. If I want to waste money on card games, I'll go to the casino!

Unlikely. But who knows? I do all kinds of strange things when I drink.

Unsure.

Likely. In fact, owning one deck seems like a pretty cool idea.

Very likely. In fact, I'm thinking of converting my spare bedroom into a vault for my growing collection.

Today's Experiment

Step 1: Compare today's responses to those you made back in chapter 1, then answer the following questions.

Which answers changed?

Overall, how would you describe the degree of change?

- no change.

- very little change.

- moderate change.

significant change.

- very significant change.

If there were any applications of Tarot which surprised or engaged you, describe them here:

If there were any applications of Tarot which failed to impress or engage you, describe them here.

When you tell other people about your thirty-day experience, what will you say?

For Extra Credit

Whatever your overall results, tell at least three other people about your Tarot experience. Don't hold back-share the good, the bad, and the ugly. Share or demonstrate a particularly effective experiment. Offer to give them a reading. Refer them to TarotTools.com for more ideas.

And, of course, I'd be honored and flattered if you'd direct other folks-from hardshell skeptics to True Believers-to this book. Lend them yours-or, since yours is all marked up with good answers and cherished insights, encourage them to buy their own.

I appreciate your support, and applaud you for having the courage and tenacity to undertake your own hands-on investigation into the power and scope of Tarot. Congratulations! Here's hoping the cards make a valuable contribution to your personal journey.

This book is coming to an end, but your adventure with the Tarot is just beginning!

With thousands of books and millions of web pages devoted to Tarot, deciding what to try next can intimidate almost anyone. Should you buy a book? Should you buy another deck? Should you join an Internet group like ComparativeTarot.com or Tarot-L? Should you set up your own sidewalk booth and start selling readings to passersby for thirty bucks a pop?

As it turns out, the thirty daily experiments you've just completed do more than support a hands-on investigation into Tarot; they also help you identify specific applications of Tarot that you've got a knack for! With this information in hand, you'll be better equipped to pick out the books, decks, and classes that will satisfy your curiosity, build your skills, and make the most of what you've learned so far.

Here's what to do:

Step 1: Look back through the thirty experiments and identify the five you enjoyed the most.

Step 2: Write down the day of each experiment you most enjoyed. For example: if you really enjoyed the Dream Workshop (Day 13), write down the number 13.

Step 3: Highlight the days you enjoyed most in the far left column on the chart below:

Step 4: To the right of each day are six columns indicating whether the related experiment featured an educational, psychological, magickal, creative, predictive, or planning application. (Some experiments incorporate more than one type of application.)

Step 5: By referring to the chart, determine the category of application most often associated with your favorite experiments.

Step 6: Use the information in the following paragraphs to determine your next steps!

Educational applications-specifically, applications designed to teach Tarot basicshold special appeal for beginners and Tarot educators. As a group, the experiments in this category provide a sound introduction to Tarot reading; in a pinch, they can easily be adapted for classroom use. I hope you'll see What's in the Cards for You? as a resource book packed with exciting hands-on exercises.

If the majority of the experiments that appealed to you were from the educational category, you're very likely a student of life or a teacher by nature. If you enjoyed what you learned here, the next logical step would be to continue your personal exploration of Tarot.

For a good overview of what Tarot can do for you, I recommend Barbara Moore's aptly titled book, What Tarot Can Do for You.

If you'd like a more structured study of the cards and their meanings, consider Tarot for Beginners: An Easy Guide to Understanding and Interpreting the Tarot by P. Scott Hollander or Anthony Louis' Tarot Plain and Simple. You might also enjoy Tarot: Your Everyday Guide by Janina Renee.

Years ago, I got my own start with Joan Bunning's excellent Learning the Tarot. (The entire text of this book is available for free at her website, www.learntarot.com-but you'll want to buy a copy you can refer to when you're away from the computer!) Since then, I've given this book to dozens of eager students.

When you get past the basics, Llewellyn Publications offers an incredible variety of advanced topics in Tarot covering everything from spread design (Designing Your Own Tarot Spreads by Teresa Michelsen) to in-depth study of the Tarot court cards (Mary K. Greer and Tom Little's Understanding the Tarot Court).

And, of course, the more you know about the images and pictures on the cards, the more eloquent the cards become! Expand your knowledge-and your options for ideasby pursuing symbolic associations galore in Sandra Thompson's Pictures from the Heart: A Tarot Dictionary.

Having sharpened your skills, you will frequently find yourself in a position to read for others. Should you decide to teach or read Tarot professionally, you'll find invaluable advice in Christine Jette's Professional Tarot: The Business of Reading, Consulting, and Teaching. Should you offer a Tarot workshop of your own, Wald and Ruth Ann Amberstone's Tarot Tips can be an invaluable resource, bursting at the seams with ideas, exercises, and insights you can use.

Meanwhile, keep practicing! Adapt the exercises in this book to the situations and challenges you face in your daily life. Consider creating a Tarot journal, where you can track interpretations and insights. Finally, why not seek out a Tarot workshop or handson course to give your skills a further boost?

Experiments with psychological dimensions will be of special interest to therapists, counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and mental-health professionals-anyone with a professional or personal interest in human emotions and motivations. With minor changes, these daily exercises can be molded into powerful analytical and diagnostic tools.

For those of us without an alphabet soup of advanced degrees and certifications at the end of our titles, the same applications provide tantalizing glimpses into the deep, unexplored reaches of our own subconscious.

If the majority of experiments that appealed to you were from the psychological category, you'll find a wealth of Tarot-related literature waiting to help you probe deeper into the mysteries of the mind.

Julie Gillentine's Tarot and Dream Interpretation provides approachable applications for detailed dreamwork with Tarot cards. Christine Jette's Tarot for the Healing Heart explores the cards as tools for advancing and enhancing emotional and spiritual health.

While these books are more scholarly in tone, they will also be of interest to you: Dr. Art Rosengarten's Tarot and Psychology, which explores therapeutic applications of Tarot in a clinical setting; Sallie Nichols' Jung and Tarot: An Archetypal Journey, which leads the reader on a symbolic tour through the trumps; and Robert Wang's underappreciated The Jungian Tarot (a deck in which the trumps are interpreted in terms of Jung's archetypes).

Finally, you may also enjoy using the cards as a tool for analyzing (and improving) your relationship and communication skills. If so, I wrote Taking the Tarot to Heart just for you. It's a book packed with applications designed to help you clarify your emotional needs ... and envision strategies for fulfilling them, too!

As you continue your work with the cards, consider keeping a combined Tarot and dream journal, in which you use the cards to explore and interpret your dreams. When the day's challenges prompt unexpected emotions or responses, retreat to a quiet place and use the cards to give shape and form to your undefined feelings.

No, it's not a typo! Adherents of serious metaphysical practice often spell magick with "k" to distinguish it from the sleight-of-hand practiced by stage magicians and nightclub entertainers.

You may be surprised to find that many of the exercises that appealed to you most were in the magickal category. Don't be! Supporting many of today's mainstream selfhelp and self-empowerment programs are principles that, for centuries, were considered strictly magickal in nature. Long before Anthony Robbins taught people to visualize their goals in order to reach them, practitioners of magick were using vivid mental images as a tool for attaining their deepest desires.

If you found the magickal applications most appealing, you have a wealth of resources to explore. Everyday Tarot Magic by Dorothy Morrison positions the cards for use in meditation and spell-casting. Donald Kraig's book, Tarot and Magic, teaches you how the cards can be used to create your own rituals and spells.

If spellwork appeals to you, don't miss Janina Renee's Tarot Spells. Wiccans and witches may also be interested in Ann Moura's Tarot for the Green Witch, which approaches the cards from the perspective of the witch's craft. Finally, Llewellyn also offers a kit-The Witches Tarot-that combines Ellen Cannon Reed's Witches Tarot with a full-size 320-page book.

I'm just one of several authors who admit using Tarot as "creative fuel" for our fiction and nonfiction. If creative applications dominated your favorite days, chances are you're an artist (perhaps even a frustrated or repressed artist) or, at the very least, an artist at heart. The visual vocabulary and intuitive methods of Tarot make the deck an invaluable companion for generating ideas, breaking through creative blocks, and envisioning success.

In an upcoming book, Deal Me a Story, I cover Tarot-based brainstorming applications designed specifically for artists and authors. Meanwhile, The Bright Idea Deck, a card deck I designed with creative applications in mind, is now available from Llewellyn, along with the companion book, Brainstorming with the Bright Idea Deck. The creative approaches to card reading in Valerie Sim's Tarot: Out of the Box will also give you new and creative ways to integrate Tarot into your creative practice. The literary-minded may also draw inspiration from James Ricklef's Tarot Tells the Tale, which explores three-card readings from the perspective of familiar stories.

As you face creative challenges over the next several days, consider how you might use Tarot cards to enhance your personal creativity. Writing? Draw a card to create a plot twist. Sketching? Draw a card (literally!) from a deck and use it as inspiration. Photographing the world around you? Challenge yourself to find and shoot a sequence of twenty-two photos that reinterpret the Tarot in terms of your environment.

As you come up with creative applications, share them with other readers at the web's premiere site for Tarot and creativity: www.TarotTools.com. At my site you'll find a rich storehouse of tips and strategies for artists and others!

Nowadays more people seem to favor Tarot's psychological applications over the more old-fashioned predictive ones. Still, exploring timing with Tarot can make for an engaging and revealing pastime. If you favored the predictive exercises, chances are you'll enjoy working with Tarot as a predictive tool.

Predictive strategies abound, and shelves are packed with books that claim to reveal how you can use the cards to pinpoint future events. You'll have no trouble finding resources, since almost every book on Tarot includes information on timing-though you may have to work with several systems (or create your own) to find the one that works best for you. Remember: just because a book says, "Cups = Spring" or, "the number of the card indicates the number of weeks until the event will occur" doesn't mean you have to use that formula.

You may also be interested in combining your Tarot-based predictive skills with astrology. If so, check out Carol Rushman's The Art of Predictive Astrology. Who knows what will happen when you combine stars and cards?

Next to creative applications, these are my personal favorites! Goal-setting, strategizing, and brainstorming make up a huge portion of my work. As a result, I use Tarot as a problem-solving tool on a daily basis!

If the days associated with personal planning applications were attractive to you, you're going to love Putting the Tarot to Work-an entire book dedicated exclusively to Tarot-based brainstorming, problem solving, and career planning. There's no focus on hocus pocus; instead, the book offers dozens of spreads and applications anyone can use to generate strategies for success.

Especially if you want to use the Tarot at work (or with others who may misunderstand your enthusiasm for the cards), you'll be delighted by The Bright Idea Deck-a "brainstorming Tarot." Each card features an evocative illustration; with a single glance, associations and stories will spring effortlessly to mind. And while the deck preserves Tarot's structure (four suits, trumps, and court cards) and themes, it doesn't feature any of the occult symbolism, nudity, or spooky titles that can make Tarot tricky to use in some situations.

As someone with an interest in efficiency and achievement, you'll be amazed at how integrating Tarot into your planning time can help you focus on priorities, clarify your values, and sharpen your sense of personal direction. Try pulling a card before an important meeting and asking, "What do I need to know in order to make the most of this opportunity?" Having trouble completing your "To Do" list for the day? Draw a card and ask, "How can I motivate myself to finish this work?"

And with that-you're done! You've conducted a firsthand investigation of the power and flexibility of Tarot. You have pointers to resources for additional study. You've completed the program. You've taken the Tarot challenge for yourself. As a result, you've got a powerful new tool at your disposal.

Here's hoping your work with Tarot proves as rewarding and empowering as my own.

Mark McElroy

Summer, 2004

The list of available Tarot decks and books grows daily, and the sheer number of decks and titles can give even the most dedicated shopper the willies.

While my personal schedule no longer allows me to carry readers on guided buying tours (ah, those were the days!), I'm happy to pass along a few recommendations. Expand your collection and library with the following books and decks, and you can't go wrong. For more suggestions, visit me at www.TarotTools.com.

Robin Wood Tarot (Llewellyn). Mixes bold colors, clear symbolism, and unique interpretations of familiar themes with a healthy dash of paganism. Some claim the images look dated, but I prefer to say the deck exudes a groovy 1970s vibe.

Universal Tarot (Llewellyn / Lo Scarabeo). Because this deck features redrawings of the ever-popular Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot images, you can use it with the vast majority of Tarot books on the market. If you have small hands, you'll handle this extra-skinny deck with ease.

The Bright Idea Deck (Llewellyn). I'm a tad biased, because I designed this deck. But hey, I designed it with you and your needs in mind: a modern deck, populated with modern people doing modern things. Spookiness is at a minimum and there's zero percent nudity ... so this is the deck you can share with everyone, from your six-yearold nephew to your fundamentalist granny.

International Icon Tarot (Glow in the Dark Pictures). I love this little deck, which renders the world's favorite Tarot images in the style of international signage. Google the deck's title and buy your copy straight from the artist, Robin Ator.

World Spirit Tarot (Llewellyn). In lieu of the usual Caucasian cast of characters, these bold prints include people and creatures of every ethnicity and persuasion you can imagine. Except for the occasional cartoon nudity, this deck is an Human Resource director's dream.

Even with more than a hundred decks in my collection, there are certain decks I return to again and again. Rich in symbolism and featuring some of the finest Tarot art available today, these decks are guaranteed to add energy and depth to your Tarot experience!

Alchemical Tarot (Thorsons). Robert Place's iconic artwork breathes new life into the Tarot, imparting insights from alchemical traditions. It's out of print ... so if you see one on Ebay, snap it up. (Or email me, and I'll snap it up. I'm hoarding 'em. Really.)

The Tarot of Durer (Llewellyn / Lo Scarabeo). Art by Giacinto Gaudenzi, inspired by the Renaissance artist Albrecht Durer. The minors tell fascinating stories, and the deck has as wicked a sense of humor as you'll find in any Tarot. Don't show Granny the Queen of Coins.

Golden Tarot (U.S. Games). After foreigners stole her beautiful images for an illegal Tarot calendar, artist Kat Black's fans clamored for legitimate copies of this elegant deck. The work is computer collage ... but you'll never know it. Think of a Tarot painted by grand masters, complete with gilded edges just like your grandma's Bible had, and you'll get the idea. Unlike most art decks, Kat's deck reads like a charm.

Jungian Tarot (Marcus Aurelius Press). Evocative images in the majors reference archetypes as explored by Carl Jung. Minors feature only very basic illustrations. Beware, though-these cards bear no text or titles of any kind. After years of use, I still occasionally confuse one card for another-even in public readings!

The Navigators Tarot of the Mystic Sea (U.S. Games). One of the most underrated Tarot decks on the market. Ethereal creatures wander the dreamy landscapes of these cards, prompting dozens of unusual insights and ideas. Friends call it, "The Cirque du Soliel" Tarot, since the costumes and stage props evoke the same sense of wonder associated with that particular traveling troupe.

Osho Zen Tarot (St. Martin's Press). Calm and tranquil, this is a great deck for both meditation and brainstorming. I fell in love with it only after trimming away the borders and keywords ... and tossing out the extra "Master" card. If the Robin Wood is the quintessential 1970s deck, the OZ deck, as it's called, is a child of the Big 80s. (Watch for the card featuring a caricature of Ronald Reagan.)

Secret Tarot (Fireside / Simon and Schuster). This deck was originally released as The Renaissance Tarot. Perhaps because that name was already associated with Brian William's elegant Renaissance Tarot (U.S. Games), the publisher later changed the name to The Secret Tarot. Unfortunately, that name's already taken, too, by Lo Scarabeo's Secret Tarots. Oddly, neither name highlights this deck's greatest strength: vivid, compelling card illustrations crafted in the style of exquisite handmade jewelry.

Tarot of the Master (Llewellyn / Lo Scarabeo). I love everything about this reprint of a very early Tarot deck, including the surprisingly evocative minor cards. I'm usually annoyed by keywords, but I like the ones included here. Be careful not to confuse this deck with Amerigo Folchi's odd Master Tarot.

The Appendix Tarot (Llewellyn). There actually isn't a Tarot called The Appendix Tarot. I just added this entry as a way of testing whether anyone ever reads the appendix. (Aren't I saucy?) If you spot this entry, drop me a line at mark@tarottools.com. In return, I'll send you a little gift via email.

Thoth Tarot (U. S. Games). Ah, Uncle Al. I know folks who fear this deck more than a house raid by Homeland Security. You can work such fears to your benefit, though; keep a card or two from this deck stuck to your screen door, and you'll scare away those annoying fundamentalist missionaries. Meanwhile, once you get past the extremes to which the designer of this deck went in his personal life, the symbolic depth of this deck repays careful study.

Universal Waite (U.S. Games). A gently recolored version of the original Rider-Waite images. This deck was my second Tarot purchase ever, and remains a favorite. Avoid its cousin, the Radiant Rider Waite, which I call Kaplin's Amazing Technicolor Dream Tarot. Unlike the inviting colors of the Universal Waite, the Radiant Rider's aggressive hues have all the charm of a day-long high fever.

Comparative Tarot (Llewellyn / Lo Scarabeo). This one was conceived by Valerie Sim, the leader of the Internet's most welcoming Tarot-related community, Comparative Tarot. It's four ... four ... four decks in one!

Cosmic Tribe (Inner Traditions / Destiny Books). Stevee Postman's eye-popping artwork (and appreciation for the human body in all its various configurations) makes this deck a compelling addition to any collection. Includes extra renderings of The Lovers, allowing users to select a version of the trump reflecting their own sexual orientation. Note: if you're the sort of person who wants to put diapers on Greek statuary, this ain't the deck for you. Rumors that George Clooney modeled naked for the Knight of Cups are patently untrue.

Enchantments / The Nigel Jackson Tarot (Llewellyn). Witty and unique, this deck's art combines clever illustrations with striking visuals on every card. Whenever I read in public, people select this deck again and again. It's easy to see why: the pastel colors and whimsical artwork make even the Death card look jazzy.

Illuminated Tarot (www.soul-guidance.com). Carol Herzer's vibrant art brings unusual color and shine to familiar Rider-Waite images. This handmade deck appealed to me from the moment I laid eyes on it. If you have only one noncommercial, limited-edition deck in your collection, make it this one. In addition to being beautiful, these durable cards will hold up to strenuous use.

Quest Tarot (Llewellyn). In addition to glossy computer-generated art, this deck incorporates detailed symbolism, a groovy "yes/no" answer feature, and even a system al lowing the cards to spell out answers, Oujia-board style. I once asked it to tell me the name of my partner, Clyde, and it spelled out KWIJIBO-but maybe you'll get better results.

Tarot of the New Vision (Llewellyn / Lo Scarabeo). What if you could see the familiar Rider-Waite-Smith pictures from another perspective? Some of the illustrations are uninspired, but others add great meaning and depth to the images. Me? I'm waiting for the Aerial Photography Tarot-a version of the Rider-Waite-Smith images showing only the tops of the character's heads.

Tarot of Prague (Xymbio). You have to get this one off the Internet, ordering it directly from Prague (!). Google the deck title or the publisher's unusual name, and you'll find all the ordering information you'll need. Its collage art is some of the very best available, and the packaging and companion book are crafted with love and care.

Amberstone, Wald and Ruth Ann. Tarot Tips. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2003. Practical approaches to reading the cards, formatted for short attention spans. Wald and Ruth Ann run the Tarot School in New York City; if you can't get there for one of their hands-on classes, this book is the next best thing.

Bunning, Joan. Learning the Tarot. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1998. A comprehensive "first book" of Tarot meanings, complete with a series of detailed beginner's exercises. The text of the entire book is available for free on www. learntarot.com, but you'll want a bound copy of this approachable book eventually.

Greer, Mary. The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2002. When you shuffle the cards, some inevitably turn upside-down, and many people enjoy assigning modified or enhanced meanings to these "reversed cards." In this book, Mary Greer provides eleven different strategies for reading "reversed" or inverted cards, all documented in her usual warm, practical style.

McElroy, Mark. Putting the Tarot to Work. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 2004. Yep, it's another shameless self-plug! This was the book that started it all, applying Tarotbased visual brainstorming techniques to solve business challenges and achieve career goals. What Taking the Tarot to Heart does for the bedroom, Putting the Tarot to Work does for the boardroom. If interested in applying Tarot-based brainstorming principles to your career, give this title a peek.

McElroy, Mark. Taking the Tarot to Heart. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2004. Okay, so this is a shameless self-plug. Still, if you're interested in how you can use Tarot to brainstorm everything from twenty date ideas in twenty minutes, to fifty ways to please your lover, this is the book for you.

Moore, Barbara. What Tarot Can Do for You. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2004. Barbara's book provides a fast and friendly tour of Tarot basics, including how to choose a deck, phrase questions, develop personal meanings, and more. It also provides a quick but thorough overview of Tarot applications beyond divination, including meditation, magic, and much more.

Riley, Jana. Tarot Dictionary and Compendium. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1995. This concise work pulls together card meanings and associations as defined by as many as a dozen different commentators. Varying interpretations help new users see the same card from many different angles. An excellent, portable "quick reference."

Thompson, Sandra. Pictures from the Heart: A Tarot Dictionary. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2003. Want hundreds of extra associations to fuel your brainstorming sessions? Explore traditional, mythological, historical, and psychological meanings behind the signs and symbols on Tarot cards with this invaluable resource. Highly recommended.

To Write to the Author

If you wish to contact the author or would like more information about this book, please write to the author in care of Llewellyn Worldwide and we will forward your request. Both the author and publisher appreciate hearing from you and learning of your enjoyment of this book and how it has helped you. Llewellyn Worldwide cannot guarantee that every letter written to the author can be answered, but all will be forwarded. Please write to:

Mark McElroy Llewellyn Worldwide P.O. Box 64383, Dept. 0-7387-0702-3 St. Paul, MN 55164-0383, U.S.A.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments .

Introduction: Exploring What Works .

One: Getting Started .

Out in Left Field .

Learning by Doing .

Initial Attitude Survey .

Where Do We Go from Here? .

Two: Making Meaning .

The Key to Making Meaning .

Your Secret Weapon for Making Meaning .

Some Things to Keep in Mind .

All Systems Go! .

Three: Testing the Tarot .

Day One: Make a Meaning .

Day Two: Trumps on Trial .

Day Three: Suit Yourself .

Day Four: Your Court Date .

Day Five: Deal of the Day .

Day Six: A Simple Strategy .

Day Seven: Personal Improvement .

Day Eight: A Relaxation Ritual .

Day Nine: Dream a Little Dream .

Day Ten: Deal Me a Story .

Day Eleven: Sister Doololly's Revenge (or Testing Timing) .

Day Twelve: Either/Or Outcomes .

Day Thirteen: Dream Workshop, Part I .

Day Fourteen: Dream Workshop, Part II .

Day Fifteen: Why-ping about Life .

Day Sixteen: Facing Your Fears .

Day Seventeen: Instant Insight .

Day Eighteen: Fun with Yes and No .

Day Nineteen: Pros and Cons .

Day Twenty: Making Memories .

Day Twenty-one: Comparative Reading .

Day Twenty-two: Attention to Intention .

Day Twenty-three: Creating Compassion .

Day Twenty-four: Probing Your Precognition .

Day Twenty-five: More Bang from Your Brainstorming .

Day Twenty-six: Answering the Big Questions .

Day Twenty-seven: Breakfast with da Vinci .

Day Twenty-eight: Exploring Past Lives .

Day Twenty-nine: Give a Tarot Reading .

Day Thirty: Looking Back .

Four: What's Next? .

Educational Applications .

Psychological Applications .

Magickal Applications .

Creative Applications .

Predictive Applications .

Planning Applications .