Synergy creates new possibilities for Tarot Readings
That Tarot is greater than the sum of its parts is self-evident, so why give
further thought to the concept? Liber 777 is proof of the length, breadth and
depth of the association of the tarot cards with just about every spiritual,
magical and divination system. So why do we not embrace this principle? Part of
the problem is that while the associations between the cards and the systems
are so vast, tarot readers are struggling to extend the vocabulary of the
divinatory meanings of each card. Extending the vocabulary is a pointless
exercise because the mind can only hold about 7-10 pieces of information at any
one time, and since there are invariably 7 to 12 cards in a spread, that ability
to retain all those details is spread rather thinly. The problem is
exacerbated by the need to remember the attributes of each position. Remembering
all those divinatory meanings is thereby doomed. This will not of course
prevent more books and decks being published purporting to extend the
definitions of every card. Still, authors and publishers are entitled to make a
buck.
The problem is the belief that professionalism in reading the tarot is
demonstrated by being Mr or Mrs Memory. Have you seen these people who can
instantly recall facts about football seasons going back one hundred years? Do
they have a personality? Is there anything interesting beyond the morbid
curiosity in trying to catch them out by asking totally obscure questions
that are of interest to nobody? Furthermore, memorisation is a task related to the
past — it has nothing to do with the present or the future. By now you will be
throwing your hands in horror. What can be done? Is there any point in
memorisation? Yes there is, but only as a generalisation. I have got by for
years as a tarot reader with only a few words or phrases for each of the cards,
and I am sure that if you asked me right now the meaning for a card, I would
probably struggle to give a satisfactory answer. I would fail just about every
examination one can take on these tarot courses — I would fail with flying
colours, and I would be very proud!
As my clients testify, I am an expert and talented tarot reader, so how can this be if I only have the faintest notion of the meaning of
the cards? Clearly, the divinatory meanings are not very important. Nor do I
have time for tarot spreads, except for the Opening of the Key Spread, which
does not have any attributions for the positions.
The answer resides in synergy, a concept that has not been fully explored
before in tarot. While I was researching and experimenting on how to
successfully read the tarot using the Opening of the Key spread, I came across
the notion of the Hegelian Dialectic, of thesis, antithesis and synthesis,
whereby the cards either side would modify the centre card using the very
simple (and easy to remember!) rules of Elemental Dignities. The combination of
the Hegelian Dialectic and Elemental Dignities creates a powerful and
sophisticated system for analysing each card in relationship to its neighbours.
The synergy comes in when the reader takes into account the dialectic and ED
for every card, since every card is influenced to a greater or lesser extent by
all the other cards in the string. Beginners have to mechanically go through
the combinations, counting and pairing, but with practice, like any skill,
short cuts are discovered.
Hardwiring the brain frees creativity and insight
The synergistic power of the techniques and short cuts that becomes
hard-wired into the brain free the conscious levels of the mind to access
deeper levels, so that the reader has greater rapport with the querent, who
should be after all, the focus of the reading, not the tarot. Freed from the
pressure of trying to remember past meanings of the cards, which are not in any
case necessarily relevant to the current situation, there is an extraordinary
release of energy and creativity in the reading that benefits both the reader
and the querent.
This explosion of energy, knowledge and wisdom is a powerful problem solving
tool that transcends the situation, liberating the querent and reader. Here is
the crux of the situation. By trying to remember old knowledge, we suppress the
very vitality that will give us new solutions, new knowledge and new
opportunities.
Synergy is a powerful tool for transforming health, spiritual, social, work,
and political situations that is only beginning to become understood in recent
years. Understanding synergy in terms of the potential uses in tarot creates a
new paradigm for tarot readers that I believe will elevate the status of tarot
itself.
So what is synergy?
Synergy means that the whole is greater than the
sum of its parts. It means that the relationship which the parts have to each
other is a part in and of itself. It is not only a part but the most catalytic,
most empowering, the most unifying, the most exciting part.Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People
This definition is perfect for describing the techniques of Elemental
Dignities and the Hegelian Dialectic when applied to the Opening of the Key
Spread. One thing readers are surprised to hear me say is that I have no
idea where a reading will go — shouldn’t I know? Having a blank slate at the
start of a reading is actually a powerful technique for bringing out the power
of synergy. Beginner readers may have the same experience, but they fear
it, for they feel they have lost control — will they be able to remember the
meanings of the cards? This fear brings them out of any settled state of the
mind necessary for clear divination. Stephen Covey brilliantly provides the
solution in the next paragraph:
The creative process is also the most terrifying
part because you don’t know exactly what’s going to happen or where it is going
to lead. You don’t know what new dangers and challenges you’ll find. It takes
an enormous amount of internal security to being with the spirit of adventure,
the spirit of discovery, the spirit of creativity. Without doubt, you have to
leave the comfort zone of base camp and confront an entirely new and unknown
wilderness. You become a trailblazer, a pathfinder. You open new possibilities,
new territories, new continents, so that others can follow.Stephen R. Covey, ibid.
The comfort zone Stephen Covey describes is clearly the divinatory meanings
and tarot spreads for tarot readers. The wilderness in this context is the
querent, the stranger before the tarot reader, and it is the purpose of the
reader to bring new opportunities, new possibilities, and new places for
the querent to explore. With synergy, 1+1 equals not two, but three, or as many
as you like. The wonderful thing is that we are always blessed with synergy —
we just have to recognise it in each reading. Every reading is a powerful
opportunity to go into the unknown.
Synergy changes the relationship a tarot reader has with the
client. In the past, when life was short, and brutal, when travel several miles
to the next village was a rare event, when everybody knew their place, and
social mobility was a non-existent possibility for just about everyone,
fatalism was rampant. You married early, probably the first person you kissed,
you had children and you died early. If you had a reading from a gypsy, you
paid your money, you sat there, she gave you the prognostication, and then you
left. The concept of any alternatives was given short shrift. I still get
people who sit there, grim faced, arms folded so nothing is given away, and
they want to know what will happen to them. Unless I can find a way of getting
them to understand that fatalism is an outmoded concept, and that the way
forward is about what they do with their life, not what life throws at them;
they will get what I consider to be a very unsatisfactory reading. Tarot
readings are about opening opportunities, not stifling them.
Breaking through to the other side
The new paradigm (well, actually, something I have been
practising for many, many years) is co-operation. The querent does not have to
volunteer information, but there needs to be a dialogue so that new
possibilities can be explored. It may well be that the querent is as blank
about the future as the tarot reader, which is why synergetic techniques of
tarot are vital to break through into new and productive areas so that the
querent can move forward. My regular clients invariably tell me what has
happened since the last reading, and then they tell me what they want me to
look at. This is a Win/Win situation satisfactory to both reader and querent.
Tarot has potential for new possibilities, but
until these new possibilities are accessed, they will remain forever dormant.
The key is to use the tarot synergistically by opening up your heart and your
mind. The new principle is that the reader and the querent will both gain
greater insight, with mutual learning that will result in more insights and
growth. The defensive postures seen in querents brought up in the traditional
mode of reading, arms folded, expressionless, giving away nothing comes in part
from family and work life, where people cannot be trusted.
Synergetic moments in life are few and far between, perhaps
experienced in moments of crisis where everyone has to pull together to
survive. Synergetic tarot readings open the possibility of unlimited creativity
and potential on demand. Something very interesting happens when the
tarot reader works synergistically with the tarot — the brain becomes hardwired
to work in a synergistic manner in more and situations creating new opportunities for creativity and success.