Emma Toynbee - Modern Day Tarot: Know Yourself, Shape Your Life

To my divinely driven mum, whose ever-present,

affirmatory and expansive approach subsequently

shaped the life of her firstborn grandchild:

cradled close and speaking their first words

in our tending readers hands

Contents

The tarot has traditionally been used as an esoteric tool for divination purposes, but in the modern day it can be so much more. Anyone and everyone can benefit from reading the tarot, from business professionals to stay-at-home parents. We all need help from time to time to navigate the ups and downs of life, whether it comes from friends, partners, family, teachers, therapists, counsellors, life coaches, preachers or a guru. But no matter to whom we look for higher wisdom and guidance, rarely can they match the complete honesty and instant availability of the tarot. A session with a professional life coach or therapist can be invaluable at any time in life, whether we are in a crisis or simply needing some regular time dedicated to our own personal evolution and development. Yet that session cant always be perfectly aligned with our impulse to seek out reassurance. The tarot is available day and night, at whatever time and place is most convenient for us to absorb its lessons; all we have to be is ready and willing to improve the quality of our thoughts, and subsequently our life.

Tarot pushes the black-hole button in the brain. It prompts the rational mind to relinquish control and instantly grant access to previously inaccessible information and knowledge empowers. In life and business, the tarot can be a go-to device, taking our mind to places it never would otherwise have entered and enabling us to crack any impedimental imbalances or stalemates and move forward. Tarot is about seeing meaning and connections and finding purpose, but also, now more than ever, reworking the mind so that it functions naturally, organically and healthily. We now know what the information age looks and feels like and are starting to realize the impact the rapid advance of technology can have on our personal lives, business and society. The rapid processing power of computerized devices is becoming a substitute for our own judgement, intuition and deeper understanding through direct experience. In short, the computerized world has many benefits, but has also become a kind of mind-crutch, allowing the cognitive brain to call less and less on the limbic intuitive centre.

One of the effects of the ubiquitous information overload is a sort of analytical paralysis; the sheer amount of information available to us is so overwhelming that we tend to give up the chase and select only the information that confirms a pre-existing condition or belief. Its time to rise up and reclaim the brain. Rather than being pigeonholed by our usual online preferences, we will find that tarot gives our mind a chance to completely refresh itself and avoid getting stuck in automated algorithmic thought ruts.

Tarot is the point when art and science meet, where we can see the workings of the subconscious mind in material reality. I believe that the most profound and modern application of the tarot is as an inner emotional or psychological mind map, showing where and how our current frame of mind is driving our life. When following any map, as we know, even the smallest degree of adjustment to our planned trajectory can take us miles off-course. Using the tarot as a mind map, we are able to backtrack, fast-track and pinpoint how our behavioural responses, reactions or non-reactions can either lead us back to the start or down a new and exciting life path.

All becomes possible with the tarot deck as our mobile future tap, including predicting the outcome of a meeting, how a particularly tricky client, or the markets, will react, and whether a stock or project is worth a punt. We can also be poised and prepared when something is about to have its moment, and foresee financial, business or fashion trends and so, in a sense, make them. The liquid modern world often requires an ultra-open and fluid response, and tarot reading helps generate new neural pathways and allows us to be continually reassessing and reinventing. In todays fast-moving and ever-changing world, in this era of quick-fixes and information, the tarot can keep us ahead of the ever-pacier game.

In addition to its honest and transparent approach to problem-solving, when used as a form of pocket guru, wisdom teacher or counsellor, the tarot can help reclaim our misplaced power. We can misplace our power by becoming too reliant on others for our own psycho-emotional care or support. They then become like props or crutches, and we are not given the opportunity to grow and mature through our own self-reliance. Using the tarot as a psycho-emotional map offers us a way of reclaiming any unnecessary drains on our personal power, leading to ever-greater self-esteem and emotional security.

When we are stuck, facing a problem or lacking perspective, the symbolic imagery of the tarot can also stimulate our latent intuition, allowing us to overcome the obstacle of ignorance and reorient ourselves in a positive and constructive direction. Tarot can be used in any unclear situation when theres a decision to be made or problem to be solved: no valley is too deep and no mountain too high for the divinely inspired. Yet, paradoxically, we need not climb, jump, leap or even fly to the highest ground, for the teleporting tarot-freed mind, which recognizes no such material limitations, can take us there instantaneously. Pure intuition those anomalous thoughts that drop in from nowhere are the lateral minds innate way of avoiding the queue of slower-moving logical, rational and reasoning lines of thought. Intuition relies on the fastest part of the brain the limbic system and is considered to be 80,000 times faster than our cognitive thought processes. The limbic system quickly and easily communicates feelings and bits of information to our conscious intelligence to maximize our chances of survival in a threatening context. Artists know how to access and use their intuition, but they need many years of studio practice to hone it. For those who dont have the time or inclination for artistic practices, the tarot offers another in-house mind-tapping option. So this book is, in a sense, simply a users guide to the mind, to help access as yet untapped aspects of intuitive brain functioning.

The tarot also provides a sacred space in which we can examine and observe the phenomena that arise or are constructed in our mind. Many ancient and modern minds agree, be they teachers, preachers, scientists, philosophers, heads of state or business moguls, that our thoughts create our reality. So, by knowing ourselves and the inner workings of our own mind, we can make the very best of life and positively augment our reality.

For me, the most exciting, relevant and contemporary use of the tarot is as a psychological tool to render us more effective, balanced and constructive individuals in our own lives and society. Most tarot books give an explanation of whats happening on the outside, but rarely do they answer this all-important Why me? question. So these books, like a quick-fix doctor offering curative but not preventative treatments, are the sort that will keep seeing their readers again and again, always with the same complaint. By identifying our own psychology or life philosophy as the root cause of our external life experience, however, we are able to effect lasting change. So, rather than write another quick-fix tarot book, I decided to take a more holistic and preventative approach, to serve my readers prospects better in the long term.

By proper use of the tarot for the purpose of deeper self-reflective enquiry, we can thoroughly examine and judge our words, deeds and actions, and weigh their consequences. This process teaches us to pay more attention, to know our uncultivated selves better, to look inwardly in order to successfully enrich our outer lives. In so doing, we can also recognize and appreciate the moral and noble qualities of our spirit and character, as well as those qualities that arent serving us and need to be transcended. In seeing ourselves clearly, we are able to draw back the veil that conceals our destiny.