Jaymi Elford - Tarot Inspired Life: Use the Cards to Enhance Your Life

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Tarot Inspired Life: Use the Cards to Enhance Your Life 2019 by Jaymi Elford.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

As the purchaser of this e-book, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. The text may not be otherwise reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or recorded on any other storage device in any form or by any means.

Any unauthorized usage of the text without express written permission of the publisher is a violation of the authors copyright and is illegal and punishable by law.

First e-book edition 2018

E-book ISBN: 9780738760001

Book design by Bob Gaul
Cover design by Shira Atakpu
Editing by Laura Kurtz
Interior tarot spreads by Llewellyn Art Department
Card images on cover from Triple Goddess Tarot courtesy of Lo Scarabeo

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Name: Elford, Jaymi, author.

Title: Tarot inspired life : use the cards to enhance your life / Jaymi Elford.

Description: First Edition. | Woodbury : Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., 2019. |
Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018044020 (print) | LCCN 2018048331 (ebook) | ISBN
9780738760001 (ebook) | ISBN 9780738759944 (alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Tarot.

Classification: LCC BF1879.T2 (ebook) | LCC BF1879.T2 E457 2019 (print) |
DDC 133.3/2424dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018044020

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

Any Internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific reference will continue or be maintained. Please refer to the publishers website for links to current author websites.

Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

: What Tarot Is

: History and Structure

: Card and Spread Interpretation

: Wide World of Spreads

: What You Can Do with Tarot

: Daily Writing Practices

: Inspiring the Muse

: Getting Spiritual

: Invocations for Transformation

: Rituals for Transformation

: Putting It All Together

: Taking Tarot to the Next Level

Exercise List

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, thanks to my partner, Kender Elford. Without you, this book wouldnt have manifested. You gave me the time, space, and push to chase my dreams. OMG, I did it, babe.

I also want to thank my team of readers and editors: Anna Alexander, Barbara Moore, and Laura Kurtz. Thanks for reading and re-reading all this, patiently working through the exercises. You are awesome; your insights and thoughts strengthened and organized my ideas.

Finally, I want to thank my tarot tribe of friends and teachers, among them Melissa Cynova, Hilary Parry, Andrew MacGregor, Theresa Reed, Rose Red and Andrew Robinson, Benebell Wen, and everyone else. Your knowledge, insight, gentle patience, and guidance made me the reader I am today. Thank you for fueling my passion for tarot and giving me limitless ways to use the cards.

Authors Note

Welcome aboard! Tarot isnt just a pack of cards used for divining futures. Its a fabulous tool for examining your inner and outer worlds. Tarot can bring peace into your life when it spins out of control. It can help you make better decisions by showing you what actions and paths to take. Tarot has the power to change your life, once you learn how to crack the shell of the nut and get inside, down to the kernel of what it has to offer.

Already familiar with the cards? No problem. Tarot Inspired Lif e includes experiments and ideas to expand your knowledge. Use this book along with your favorite deck as a laboratory manual to explore new ways of using your favorite deck.

I wrote Tarot Inspired Life for you to connect to a tarot deck in a personalized way. I wont ask you to memorize lists of keywords. Instead, I will ask you to look at the cards and focus on how they tie into your life, your culture, and your passions. I give you permission to delve into using the cards outside the norm. The ideas in this book may also challenge what you know about tarot.

The power of tarot may or may not give you profound life changes, but it can help you dig deeper into uncovering who you are and what purposes you have to offer in this lifetime.

I believe anyone can learn to use the cards and harness their power with only the help of their mind, memories, and a paper and pen. If you have those, you are ready to experience the world of tarot and create your own tarot inspired life.

For more insights, visit the companion website:

www.tarotinspiredlife.com

Introduction

Welcome to the Tarot Inspired Life laboratory.

Your laboratory is a safe and sacred place to learn about, study, play, and experiment with the divination tool known as the tarot. I hereby give you permission to use the cards in ways you might have not thought about before. As you go through this book, open your mind to all possibilities. All ideas count. Everything is a clue, a link that merits exploration. There is no right or wrong.

Each chapter groups tarot exercises around a central theme. What you should take away from each chapter is clearly stated in the beginning. Section one helps you gain the basics of tarot. Youll learn history, how to get your first deck, and ways to explore the cards and make your own meanings. Section two breaks out of the traditional divination mold. Explore your creative side, learn how to do invocations and perform seasonal rituals, and use the deck as a way to get in touch with your spirit helpers. Section three guides you into connecting with the larger tarot community. All the items in these later chapters can be retooled to fit your passions, your spirituality, and your lifestyle. Not interested in a particular chapter? Skip it.

New to tarot? Read this book from the first chapter to the last. It gently introduces you to the seventy-eight-card deck: its history and myths; its structure; and how you can create your own tarot meanings to connect to each card.

Advanced students, get out of your rut and use the book as your divination guide. Pick a random spot and see where it (and your deck) takes you.

Enjoy the time spent in your tarot lab. For those new to tarot, let this book teach you an appreciation for the cards youll find that once you start, youll have a life-long relationship. For the more experienced readers, may Tarot Inspired Life break you out of your comfort zoneto jumpstart your own discoveries on how the cards can impact your life.