Tracy began her own Tarot journey while recovering from her first son's
birth on New Year's Eve, 1996. She tried to study on her own for nearly
a year, picking up what she could from books and websites, but she had a
lot of trouble piecing everything together. Through membership in
the American Tarot Association, she met the contacts and gained the
expertise needed to gain her certification as a Certified Tarot Master.
Tracy uses a variety of decks to gain a
fresh perspective on problems, or to point out ideas or issues she might
not have considered otherwise. She admits that she can't predict the
future, but does believe that working with the cards can help "move life
forward."
She's honored to serve as Manager
for both the Free Reading
Network and the Free Tarot
Network. If you have any ideas or suggestions to improve the
networks, please contact Tracy at
Admin@freereading.net.
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Once
you’ve gotten all the information you can from the request itself, then
what? Maybe the question’s too vague, or someone’s asking you to find her
soul mate for the umpteenth time. You stare at your deck and draw a blank.
One of the best
ways to focus with your cards is to choose a significator, a card to
represent your client. Some readers use a significator with every reading,
but others believe it leaves the deck short a card. If leaving a card out
feels wrong to you, try using a different deck than the one for your
reading, or write down the significator and anything it brings to mind
before shuffling the card back into the deck. If the significator card
shows up again in the main reading, pay extra attention to its message.
Choosing a significator for your client can be as simple as shuffling and
drawing a card at random, or as complex as you care to make it. If you’re
using a random draw, you may decide to keep drawing until you get a Court
card or a Major Arcana. Court cards can give your client a personality,
while Majors may indicate the spiritual lesson your client needs to learn
right now.
If you’re familiar with astrology you may choose to use the Major most
closely aligned with your client’s sun sign. Sagittarius, for instance, is
often linked with Temperance. Sagittarius is also fire sign, so if you
decide to use a Court card, an older Sagittarius woman might best be
represented by the Queen of Wands.
One of my favorite methods for choosing a significator is numerology.
Adding together the month, day, and year of your client’s birth reveals
their Personality card, a Major Arcana key which represents her. Since
this method of numerology can’t end with a zero, I use 22 to correspond to
the Fool, and keep reducing until I get a number between 1 and 22. For
instance, my own birth date is December 16, 1966:
12 + 16 + 1966 = 1994
1 + 9 + 9 + 4 = 23
2 + 3 = Major Key 5, the Hierophant
A person’s personality can change with time. Replacing the birth year with
the current year yields your client’s Year card, representing his life
lesson for the current year. If his birthday has not yet passed, use the
year for his most recent birthday instead.
Numerology can also be applied to your client’s first name, by
corresponding each letter to its place in the alphabet and reducing that
number. My first name, Tracy, yields the Death card:
T + R + A + C + Y = 20 + 18 + 1 + 3 + 25 = 13
When next you’re faced with an unseen client (or even one right in front
of you) why not try using a significator? Different methods work best for
different readers, so use any of these that feel right, or use them to
inspire your own methods. Remember, the very best way to read Tarot is the
way that works best for you.
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