Newsletter of The Tarot School
http://TarotSchool.com
ISSN: 1529-0565 
Vol. 2 #1 / January 1, 2010

                                                                  
 In this Issue:
- Welcome
- Tarot Tip: Inscrutable Lists #3 - Hebrew Letter Attributions
- Tarot Card Showcase: The Magician
- Best Practices for Professional Readers: Dealing With Difficult Clients
- Coming Soon: New Tarot Classes!
- Featured Tarot Blog: Auracana
 
 
 
Happy New Year to All!
Welcome to a new issue of Tarot Tips!

2010 has arrived! As the season's celebrations
come to a close, our thoughts turn to the future.
For some that means a fresh start, a new
beginning, and making plans for the year that
will bring us success or the we goals desire.

We at The Tarot School have an ongoing mission to
help you learn and deepen your knowledge of Tarot.
We're always working to bring you our best in
innovative and dynamic Tarot techniques and
courses. We, too, are planning to have a
successful 2010, and we are grateful to have your
continued support and participation.

The road to success as a Tarot reader requires
energy, brainstorming, access to tools and
resources, and often expenses. Although we may
have all of these things in place, any number of
personal issues can delay or distract us on the
path to success. On top of this, you may come
across clients in your practice that want you to
wave a magic wand and instantly solve their
dilemmas in one session. This is the perfect issue
to spotlight The Magician -- master of the magic
wand, the ultimate expert, and the channeler of
will into manifestation.
 
Wishing you a prosperous 2010,
Ruth Ann, Wald & Gina


Tarot Tips is here to help you with the practical side
of your Tarot journey. In order to take the greatest
advantage of this newsletter, please send us your
questions regarding any aspect of your tarot study
or practice and we'll do our best to answer them
in an upcoming issue.

Spread the experience of tarot - share this newsletter
with other Tarot Enthusiasts!



Tarot Tip
THOSE INSCRUTABLE LISTS #3:
HEBREW LETTER ATTRIBUTIONS

Esoteric attributions are like the breath and the
body of the cards. They are invisible to the eye
but essential to the spirit of what the cards
mean. And they are there, doing their work,
whether we are aware of them or not.

For example, every Major Arcana card has a Hebrew
letter attribution. In fact, the correspondence
between the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and
the 22 cards of the Major Arcana was among the
very first things that drew the attention of the
esoteric community of Europe to Tarot.
Establishing that correspondence opened the door
to turning Tarot from a simple deck of playing
cards into a magical instrument. And the order and
meaning of the Hebrew letters played a role in
establishing the numerical order of the Majors.

Here are a couple of examples of how the meanings
of the letters are part of the core meanings of
the cards.

The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph, is
attributed to The Fool. Aleph means Ox. The
steadiness, power and inexhaustibility of the ox
are also understood to be qualities of Breath, an
essential principle of The Fool.

Justice has the letter Lamed, 12th letter of the
Hebrew alphabet as Justice is the 12th card in the
order of the Majors. Lamed means Ox-goad, the
pointed stick once used to prod an ox to move
forward in a straight line. In the same way,
Justice is the power that keeps everything moving
on the straight and narrow path, in perfect
accordance with its own truth.

Every letter with its number and meaning are part
of the central issue of its corresponding card.
You may or may not know these correspondences, and
even if you do, what they mean and how they apply
to the cards may be a mystery.

There are, of course, full explanations of how the
letters and their numbers and meanings relate to
the cards, but there isn't enough room here to
cover everything in detail. We recommend you do
the detective work and the contemplation to make
this make this information part of your repertoire
of Tarot knowledge. You, and the cards, will be
deeper and wiser for the effort.

If you would like to do some research on your own,
a great place to start is with a book called Sefer
Yetzirah
, which means Book of Formation. It is a
primary Kabbalistic text, and the source of most
of the esoteric attributions used by the Golden
Dawn and others. A really good, useful, and
authoritative translation is the one by Aryeh
Kaplan. It is available for purchase online, and
it's an amazing piece of work that will explain a
lot that is mysterious about Tarot.

Here is a list of the letters with their simple
meanings and card correspondences:

Fool: Aleph / Ox
Magician: Beth / House
High Priestess: Gimel / Camel
Empress: Daleth / Door
Emperor: Heh / Window
Hierophant: Vav / Nail
Lovers: Zayin / Sword
Chariot: Cheth / Fence
Strength: Teth / Serpent
Hermit: Yod / Open Hand
Wheel of Fortune: Caph / Closed Hand
Justice: Lamed / Ox-goad
Hanged Man: Mem / Water
Death: Nun / Fish
Temperance: Samekh / Tent Prop
Devil: Ayin / Eye
Tower: Peh / Mouth
Star: Tzaddi / Fish Hook
Moon: Qoph / Back of the Head
Sun: Resh / Front of the Head
Judgement: Shin / Tooth
World: Tav / Cross

This will be the last article in this series.
If you missed the first two parts, you'll
find them and other back issues of Tarot Tips at:
http://tarotschool.com/Newsletter.html




Tarot Card Showcase

In this section we will feature tidbits on a
specific tarot card. While there are many
systems and decks to choose from in the world
of tarot, here we use the Universal Waite
Tarot images and symbols.
Copyright 1992 U.S Games.
 

THE MAGICIAN
Esoteric Title: Magus of Power
Astrological Attribution: Mercury -- messenger of
the gods and lord of the occult
Qabalistic Attribution: Path #12 on the Tree of Life
-- Kether (#1 / Crown) to Binah (#3 / Understanding)
 

The 4 suit symbols of Tarot which appear on the
Magician's table, combine with spirit and focus
to give The Magician all the resources he needs to
manifest what he desires. As Lord of the Occult,
he has complete confidence in his skills and
powers.

In the realm of this 2nd Major Arcana card, there
is a crystal clear awareness of self and purpose.

This card is attributed to the Egyptian god
Djehuti (Thoth), considered to be the god of
wisdom, writing and invention. The ancient
Egyptian magicians were said to have had access to
Thoth's magical library. It is also said that
Thoth gave mankind the arts, music, science and
language through the creation of the hieroglyphs.
With this "heritage" it is easy to see how The
Magician harnesses the power of communication.


Suggested meanings:
 
Focus, purpose, commitment, control. Clarity,
confidence, discrimination and poise.
Communication is all-important.

Expert, charlatan, sorcerer, juggler. Trickery,
sleight of hand. Things are not what they seem.



 
  
 
Join our 1,000+ fans and join the fun!
You never know what we'll say next...

 
 
Best Practices for Professional Readers
DEALING WITH DIFFICULT CLIENTS
By Gina Thies
 
What types of clients are difficult? You may have
encountered the "wave the magic wand and solve
all my issues in an hour (or half hour)" client.
The "why aren't you available NOW for my
reading because I'm in a crisis" client. The
first-timer client who's never had a reading and
is skeptical or thinks that you "should know
that already."

You will probably have encountered the client that
tells you what another reader said and wants to
know if you see the same things. My two personal
favorites are, the client for whom you have
provided a beautiful, constructive, well-rounded
reading and all they really want to know is, "Do
you see anything about when I will fall in
love?" and the client who has "dabbled" with
Tarot, astrology, etc. and tells you that card
doesn't mean what you say it does.

There is no "one size fits all" solution to
dealing with challenging clients, but here are
some suggestions:

1.)  Before you set an appointment with a new
client, discuss your reading style. Sometimes,
they really need a psychic, channeler, medium,
shaman, dowser or priest. It's wonderful if you
have these gifts or skills, but if not, refer them
to someone who does.

2.)  You have rights too! You can place boundaries
on your availability.

3.)  Train them. Get them accustomed to focusing
on the most pressing issue for this appointment,
and scheduling future appointments to deal with
other matters.

4.)  In certain instances, specifically
relationship readings, the difficult client who
books the reading may be the difficult partner in
the relationship. They may paint a picture that it
is all the other partner's fault for the problems
they are experiencing. This is a big red flag!
(And a whole other article.)

Whatever the case, don't let it get the best of
you. Besides, difficult clients are on a path of
personal evolution, too, and may offer a
character-building experience for you. Stay
positive, professional, thick-skinned and most of
all fabulous!


Questions arise when developing or transitioning
to professional Tarot Reading status to earn
income. These can range from "How can I make
money with Tarot?" and "How do I get started?"
to more complex technical and business questions.
You may already be up and running and have
questions about how to enhance or ramp up your
business. I would love to hear from you. Send any
questions, or interest in a future class on the
Business of Tarot, to tarot@tarotschool.com.



Coming Soon!
NEW TAROT CLASSES

We're very excited to announce that starting
in January, there will be three ways you can
join us for ongoing classes in Tarot!
 
#1: Monday classes in New York City
 
Our curriculum for 2010 will be simple, rich, exciting,
practical and fun, and we call it The Best of Everything.
 
We'll start with The Fool on January 4th!
 
 
#2: Wednesday classes on the Phone
 
We continue with our "Secrets" classes, otherwise
known as Tarot at the Edge of Experience.
Next up is the 10 of Pentacles. Mystery abounds
in this card, and we promise you'll never again
look at this card in quite the same way!
 
Classes begin on January 20th!
 
 
#3: NEW!! Thursday classes on the Phone
 
A brand-new fabulous Tarot Teleclass series is
about to happen! We call it Card Study Complete
because we're going to study every card in the
Tarot deck on many levels of meaning -- psychic,
experiential, intuitive, traditional and esoteric --
and we'll put what you learn to work with practical
exercises and reading techniques in every class!
 
Classes begin on January 21st!

 
 
REMINDER!
Have you registered for the 2010 Readers Studio?
 
More than 100 seats at the 2010 Readers Studio are
already filled! REGISTER NOW to make sure you
don't miss out!

Visit ReadersStudio.com for more information.
 


 
 
Featured Tarot Blog / Newsletter
AURACANA
A Tarot blog on Tarot Cards and Tarot Journaling

The Tarot is a personal journey for all who travel
its path. Nicole Erazo's blog features a
collection of wonderfully written notes, thoughts
and discoveries on her Tarot journey.
 
 
Stop by for a visit!



 
Do you have a question or comment on anything
tarot? Suggestions for future topics?
Contact tarot@tarotschool.com
 
For information on tarot classes, courses,
events and more, go to www.TarotSchool.com

 
© Copyright 2010 The Tarot School - All Rights Reserved
Directors: Ruth Ann and Wald Amberstone


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