About the Author
Katalin Jett Koda (goes by Jett) is a visionary author, tarot reader, Reiki Master teacher, energy healer, and queer mystic. She has been deeply intimate with the natural, non-human, and liminal worlds since she was a child. After a series of health issues, she developed clairvoyant abilities that allow her to see energy fields, guides, and helper spirits. For more than two decades, Jett has studied and worked with the arts of healing, divination, tarot, and ceremony. She has authored several books including Sacred Path of Reiki , Fire of the Goddess: Nine Paths to Ignite the Sacred Feminine , and Slade , a visionary young adult fiction novel.
She has had the fortuitous blessing of receiving wisdom teachings from indigenous elders and lineage masters who hold traditions connected to the lands of India, Tibet, Hawaii, Mexico, and Costa Rica. While not of these lands, she holds these practices in a sacred and honored way that supports her continued work with the guides and spirits. In July of 2018, Jett was contacted by an Arcturian emissary who gave her access to the wisdom of the Arcturian collective, a group of interdimensional star beings who wish to benefit the earth. She continues to receive guidance and inspiration from her ancestors, living teachers, and the Arcturian guides who support her work with clients and students. Find her at jettkoda.com and thetarotmystery.com .
Copyright Information
Experience the Mystery of Tarot: Ceremonies, Spreads, and Meditations to Deepen Your Connection to the Cards 2020 by Katalin Jett Koda.
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.
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First e-book edition 2020
E-book ISBN: 9780738755342
Book design by Samantha Peterson
Cover design by Kevin R. Brown
Editing by Laura Kurtz
Interior art by Llewellyn Art Department
Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Koda, Katalin, author.
Title: Experience the mystery of tarot : ceremonies, spreads, and
meditations to deepen your connection to the cards / Katalin Jett Koda.
Description: First edition. | Woodbury, Minnesota : Llewellyn Publications,
[2020] | Summary: Examines tarot cards one by one, includes exercises
and ceremonies to further understand the cards. Includes spreads/layouts
for readingProvided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020036751 (print) | LCCN 2020036752 (ebook) | ISBN
9780738750897 (paperback) | ISBN 9780738755342 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Tarot.
Classification: LCC BF1879.T2 K64 2020 (print) | LCC BF1879.T2 (ebook) |
DDC 133.3/2424dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020036751
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020036752
Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.
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Manufactured in the United States of America
Llewellyn Publications
Woodbury, Minnesota
This book is dedicated to:
my dad who gave me my first set of cards,
my mom for her support,
Arianna, my first teacher of tarot,
Desiree, my soul star friend in tarot mysteries,
& for my daughter, Yoko Mojave
Contents
Acknowledgments
T his book is a labor of love that took many years, hundreds of readings, and countless lived ceremonies to capture and share the essential qualities of an embodied, ceremonial tarot. Without its predecessors, we would not have access to such a profound way of working our lives. I honor the long lineage of tarot and particularly those who carried the mystery of the tarot forward: Aleister Crowley, Lady Frieda Harris, Pamela Colman Smith, Arthur Waite, and the Order of the Golden Dawn for releasing these important esoteric truths and popularizing them as an essential guide for so many today.
I am profoundly grateful to my very first tarot teachers, Arianna and Rowan Wilson, who laid the groundwork for reading the cards, my ceremonial work, and instilling in me my connection to the earth as a living being. I am eternally grateful for my beloved friend and longtime spiritual sister, Desiree Mwalimu, for the constant creative practice and deep dive into the beauty and wisdom of the tarot. My study of the tarot was deepened by the support and intellectual grace of Mike Bailey which benefitted me enormously and brought me to one of the decks I still use today, Crowleys Thoth Tarot. The ceremonial play and reflective process of the tarot as a journey was undeniably enhanced by my artistic connections with Amber Decelle and Mika Kiburz.
I am humbled to have teachers who have taught me about the art of cultivating a true practice, offering ancient ways to connect with land and spirit, teaching me the value of discipline, and the respect for ceremony in my life development. With a heartfelt bow, I honor Kahuna Alii Kumu Ehulani Stephany, H.E. Tai Situ Rinpoche, and H.H. Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the 17 th Gyalwang Karmapa, for their gracious gifts. I also wish to thank Leon French, Jill Walton, Samantha Sinclair, Samantha Black, Arianna Terry, Brooke Dabalos, Skylyn Booth, and Ari Powers for your support and revelatory tarot insights along the way. I am thankful to the owners and staff at New Renaissance, Psychic Sister, and the Wild Unknown for believing in my gifts and providing a space to offer readings. To my editors at Llewellyn, thank you for your patience and clear feedback to bring this book into fruition.
And most importantly, to my beloved family, friends, and clients, and anyone who has ever received a reading from me, I am endlessly grateful for your presence, for showing up, revealing your most intimate and vulnerable selves, and allowing me to peer into your soul with the use of the cards. Without you, a tarot reader is nothing but a lens without a view. My own spiritual growth has been served immeasurably by the use of cards, the living system of tarot; it is my sincere wish that whomever reads this book may receive benefit, insight, and growth on this wonderful, enchanting, and mysterious path.
Preface
E xperience the Mystery of Tarot evolved from my experience of more than two decades reading tarot and practicing ritual and ceremony. When I was twenty years old, after surviving cancer, I turned to esoteric knowledge to explore alternative energy, healing practices, and mythic arts. I was fortunate to spend a year in deep study of Wicca and tarot with two Pagan teachers, both high priestesses of their coven. Around that time I received my first deck of cards, the Medicine Cards, which introduced me to the method of divination using cards. Soon after, from my father I received my first tarot deck, the Waite-Smith deck. Later, I was gifted the Aleister Crowley Thoth deck and have used that for the last fifteen years, along with several other decks, including The Wild Unknown, The Secret Dakini Oracle, Mana Cards, and the Numinous Tarot. For many years, I mainly read for myself, friends and family and occasionally read for money while traveling throughout India and Asia.