M. J. Abadie - Tarot for Teens

My thanks go first to Laura Schlivek, my project editor at Inner Traditions/Bindu Books. As always, our collaboration on this project has been a pleasure. I would also like to thank acquisitions editor Jon Graham for his enthusiasm and support, Victoria SantAmbrogio for copyediting the book, Mary Anne Hurhula for creating the attractive interior design, and Peri Champine for designing the delightful cover. Thanks, too, to Tom Juvan for his good page-layout suggestions and his careful proofreaders eye. Last, but certainly not least, the support of the publisher, Ehud Sperling, has been invaluable.

However we choose to define psychic

for ourselves, we must do so from a perspective
of the whole human being acting in
interaction with a holistic universe where anything
is possible. We have only to open
our minds and release our fears to summon
marvelous genii capable of astounding feats
from the depths of our own psyches.

M. J. Abadie, Your Psychic Potential

What is the Tarot and why should teens be interested in it?

Simply put, the Tarot is a system of divination that goes back hundredsperhaps thousandsof years. Its use has been recorded during many historical periods, and it was especially popular during the Middle Ages. A system of cards, consisting of seventy-eight individual cards, it is known as an occult tool. The word occult simply means hidden and has no negative meanings.

In our ever more complex world, teens daily face challenges unknown in the past. Thus, many are turning to various forms of divination, including the Tarot, astrology, the I Ching, and runes.

The Tarot is especially popular with teens these days, especially now that a large variety of attractive decks are available, using themes as diverse as Native American, fairy-tale symbolism, and the Goddess. The Tarot can give teens a big-picture snapshot of their lives at any given moment, as well as answer pertinent questions about specific concerns.

Although various means of divination have been used for fortune-tellingthat is, predicting the futurethe primary purpose of the Tarot (and other systems as well) is to tap into the inner wisdom we all possess.

All these systems have in common the same purpose: to find out where one is in ones own particular universe and to get a handle on whats going on inside oneself. So often we are confusedand teens are especially susceptible to confusion both from almost always being in a heightened state of emotions, as well as from sheer lack of experience.

However, its important to realize that none of these systems should be used to predict the future, for none of us can do that with certainty. We are not passive spectators in our own liveswe are active participants. Tarot cards show what energies are in play at the time of the reading. As the entire universe, including our personal one, is always in flux, these energies are not stagnant or static but are in constant motion. Whats true today may no longer be true tomorrow or next month.

Generally speaking, depending on the depth of the Tarot reading and what it reveals about the question being asked, the information given in a reading lasts for only a few days or weeks. Thus, you should use Tarot readings carefully and continually, and not base any major life decisions on a single reading.

We know that the core of the neuroses of our time is the religious problem, or, stated in more universal terms, the search for the self. In this sense, neuroses, like the mass phenomena resulting from this situation, are a kind of sacred disease.

Erich Neumann,
Art and the CreativeUnconscious

Search is an expression of the urge to discover what holds the world together at its inmost core (Goethe, Faust) to establish an order and meaning for our place in the cosmos. Mans thrust into outer space is the counterpart of the quest into inner space in search of integration and fulfillment.

Edward C. Whitmont, M.D.,
The Return of the Goddess

How the Tarot Works

The universal significance of the Tarot is thought to spring from the anima mundi, or soul of the world. This source of knowledge is like a cosmic library filled with the accumulated wisdom of the entire human race, which we can all tap into through the symbolism of the Tarot cards. Within this collective pool are all the basic figures found in religions, myths, legends, and fairy tales. These archetypal figures, with their magical storehouse of profound esoteric knowledge, are already embedded in our collective unconscious. This is why contact with these images in a reading or in contemplation and study of the cards allows their hidden counterpartsfrom the deepest layer of human collectivityto become conscious forces that we can use to answer our questions and better our lives.

Tarot cards are wonderful for meditation. They act to stimulate the intuition, which is the gateway of the unconscious. They illuminate the hidden factors in our lives, of which often we are not aware. Yet these inner issues are secretly shaping the course of life. The Tarot, properly used, reveals them.

The pictures and symbols that appear on the Tarot cards, especially in the trump cards known as the Major Arcanathe twenty-two primary picture cards of the deckrelate directly to fundamental human psychological and spiritual experiences. The study and practice of Tarot puts a person in touch with deep inner life, and the deeper he or she goes, the greater the understanding. While it is true that Tarot can be used to help answer everyday questions and to address immediate problems, its true use is for spiritual development and the discovery of the Self.

Symbol is myths vehicle, the chariot by which legend and story, and myths higher form, religion, is drawn through the heart and mind, and through time, the pages of history. Symbols express underlying patterns of thought and feeling stemming from the mythological roots that still affect us in a very real way.

M. J. Abadie,
Awaken to Your Spiritual Self

Though we may never know the true history of the Tarot for sure, what we do know is that we are free to use the cards and the wisdom they contain to solve problems, make our lives more understandable, and further our spiritual development. The Tarot cards tell a powerful story of the development of human life. It is a universal adventure story, which each one of us undertakes in his or her own way, using the symbols that are presented at the moment of a reading. Its amazing flexibility has enabled the Tarot and its revealing symbols to last through long and tumultuous centuries and still be relevant to us today.