All about Tarot.

“What is tarot, how did you get into it, and how does it work?”

These are all questions I'm asked on a daily basis. Although this blog was originally intended to be exclusively about my experiences with Swamiji, I feel that all aspects of ‘me’ are related to Him, because I am His, so here goes...

Let's start with the basic question- What is Tarot? 

In a nutshell, The Tarot is a deck of symbolic cards that are used intuitively to answer questions and better understand life. Some people use them to predict the future, some to understand themselves psychologically, and some rare readers use tarot to awaken higher understanding and determine the best way to live now. 

The traditional tarot deck contains 78 cards, each with a name, number and illustration. It is divided unequally into two parts: the Major Arcana, with 22 cards, and the Minor Arcana, with 56.


The 22 cards of the Major Arcana are mystical and archetypal. They represent the various roles we play in life. (Examples of Major Arcana cards are The Lovers, Death, The High Priestess...) When these cards come up in a reading, they represent major realizations, points of transformation, and significant events- physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. 


The 56 cards of the Minor Arcana have general meanings that help to illustrate the archetypes of the Major Arcana. 


The Minor Arcana is divided into four suits, and within the four suits, the cards are numbered like playing cards- one through ten, followed by court cards, which differ from deck to deck. (Examples of Minor Arcana cards are the Three of Swords, which demonstrates heartbreak and sorrow; the Seven of Cups, which signifies indecision; the One of Pentacles- a financial opportunity, the Queen of Cups- an expression of wisdom, etc. 


To sum it up, the Major Arcana cards indicate key lessons in life, the Minor Arcana cards illustrate the variables within these lessons. When a person has a reading containing more Major than Minor Arcana cards, you can be sure they are going through a major life change! Discovering their spiritual path, moving to a new environment, taking a vow or experiencing a breakthrough; when the spread contains all Minor Arcana cards, the reading has a more 'typical' tone- the questions are to do with finances, relationships, career, physical health, etc. 

Each card has a general meaning, but that meaning differs depending on the question asked, the placement of other cards around it, whether it’s right side up or upside down, etc. In that sense, each card has multiple (infinite) meanings. 


As well as the variables inherent in the cards themselves, each Tarot reader will have a different style, which is of utmost importance to the accuracy of the reading. One reader, for example, may have studied metaphysics for years, and be very knowledgeable about the history and tradition of Tarot, and may have the esoteric definitions of each card memorized, but still, his readings will fall short of spectacular, if he has not awakened his intuition. Similarly, another reader may be completely new to the cards, have no background knowledge, no memorized meanings, but may give a perfectly clear and accurate reading by intuitively tuning in to the message expressed in the cards. The ideal reader has the best of both- knowledge of the cards and their history, and awakened intuition. 


(And, it's my bias to believe the ideal reader should also take a vow of honesty, such that even if the message contained in the cards serves as an ego-blow to the client, the message is delivered, because the message is not the choice of either the client or the reader, but of the cosmic energy which the reader is in tune with while intuiting the message. Also, a good reader puts their head on the line during a reading. There should be no reliance on the body language or confirming feedback of the client to determine whether the messages delivered are 'hit' or 'miss.' There should be no fear of inaccuracy when intuition is being used! With this in mind, the only truly perfected readers are the readers who seek perfection not in their memorization of facts or even delivery of messages, but in their surrender to the Source from which the messages come- Existence, God, Angels, Spirit Guides, the Higher Self- whatever word you put to it, the reader must know that he or she is not the one from whom the message comes, but merely the vehicle through which the message is expressed. In my work, I keep a picture of my gurudeva, Paramahamsa Nithyananda, behind my desk, and every day, bow before it, and pray that He keeps me in check throughout the reading, with assurance that any messages I give to my clients come only from sattya, truth, and that they serve the client's highest good.)

Now- How did I get into it?

At seventeen, while working at a store that sold the cards, so many customers asked me whether or not they work, that I decided to buy a deck and find out. Initially, I approached Tarot very skeptically. I thought probably the cards could each relate to any given person or situation, because their meanings would be vague. I thought, like fortune cookies, or glossy magazine horoscopes, the Tarot would be a fun pseudo-spiritual passtime, but nothing more than that. 


The first reading I gave myself, though, left me totally shaken! Truly, every single card made complete sense; even the order the cards fell in was perfect. None of their meanings were general- all were specific, and beyond that, answered my specific question. Right then and there, I read the meaning of every single card in the deck, just to make sure there weren’t any ‘better’ cards for me than the ones that came. As it turned out, there were not. Even still, by nature I never completely believe in something after just one experiment, so I did another reading for myself a week later. Once again, every single card was spot-on accurate. 


Tarot then became a go-to source of inspiration and guidance for me whenever I had some issue I was dealing with, or a question... whenever I wanted some clarity. For years, I kept it as a secret practice. The readings were a meditative process for me; a way I could connect with higher understanding. I didn’t want to tell my friends or family about it, and potentially face ridicule. 

That secrecy came to an end one day in early 2008. I was shopping in a discount store called Lely's Books in Kingsgate Mall, Vancouver, buying (of all things) a used copy of Lilo and Stitch, when the shop owner came to me and said, "Would you like to come in to teach our customers about Tarot?" (Yeah, out of the blue- just like that!) 


I asked her why she was asking me, since nothing of my appearance would have hinted at this spiritual practice.

She was just as surprised by her request as I was, and said that she hadn't planned to ask me- the words just came out of her mouth.

It turns out, she and her husband had decided that week to introduce a line of spiritual merchandise to their store, including Tarot and Oracle cards, and they did, in fact, want someone to come in to introduce the new products.

About two weeks later, we started to offer Tarot classes, right there in her store. After the first class, she and her husband approached me with some curiosity, and asked for a demonstration. I told them both that I had never read the cards for anybody but myself, but they reassured me that they were merely curious to see how a reading is done. My trepidation melted away, and I decided- experimentally, just as my first reading for myself had been- to give them a reading.


Nitin decided he would have his cards read, and Varsha, his wife, would sit with us and watch, as a third-party observer, to check for accuracy. What happened in that reading was beyond all three of our understanding. When the cards were laid on the table, somehow, Nitin's life story came into my mind. Not in details like, "Your parents are named _______ and ________, you were born in _______, and moved to Canada in _________." The messages were not physically specific, but emotionally and spiritually specific. 


Without knowing anything of his background, this man's inner desires, goals, and personal creative yearnings were laid bare before my inner space. I started to talk about painting, and how important it is for him to express himself through visual art. His arms were folded, and he gave no sign to me as to whether or not this was accurate, so I kept going, interpreting the cards. They spoke of his past, his present, and his future- where he's been, where he is now, and what he strives to do. After about half an hour of me talking whatever came into my head, without any confirmation or confusion expressed by him, I finally threw up my hands, and said, "Well? Did any of that ring true to you?"


He and Varsha looked at each other, then at me, and both nodded their heads in stunned agreement. He told me that just a week before, they had received some art books in the store, and he had told his wife how much he missed painting. When he was  young man in India, he had loved to paint, but since moving to Canada and becoming a business man, he had neglected his creative yearnings completely in favor of raising his boys and providing well for them. All of this was explained in the reading, along with how he felt within himself throughout all of his life's transitions. 


The following week, some of the students who took the tarot class listened to his account of the reading, and each of them wanted to have demonstrations of their own. I gave them all readings in front of each other, and the same thing that had happened with Nitin happened with each one of them. None asked questions, so my readings were 'blind.' One girl had cards come up dealing with heartbreak and the necessity to be on her own. I said, "Now, it seems life is going in an unwanted direction, but since the card of unknown possibilities is here, the decision you just made is a good one, and will lead you to more than what you can now imagine." She told me in amazement that just that morning, she had ended a two year relationship because she could tell the man she was with was holding her back from her personal path. To a man who joined the class late, the cards of magic and introversion came up, followed by a card of incompletion. I said to him, "You have already discovered innumerable abilities on your own, and since these are enjoyable and life-affirming, you play with them a lot. However, there's still a lot more available for you to learn if you can open your mind to the possibility that you haven't yet learned everything." He told me, he had no intention to take this class, because- as the cards said- he thought he had already mastered all the magic he needed to know about. He was going for a walk through the mall, and somehow, without knowing why, his feet turned and carried him into the book store. When he saw what was going on, he was inexplicably drawn to sit down and join us, and even though he missed the beginning, said that the half-hour he listened to about Oracle cards had taught him a lot of things he didn't know before. Before his cards were drawn, he was contemplating on how much there was out there for him yet to discover, even though he had thought he knew everything he needed to know before.


What I learned from this experience was that the cards that came up for each individual there were accurate, and also reflected the main thoughts going on in their minds, and events going on in their lives, at the time the cards were drawn. 

The people who took that class became my original client list. Nitin and Varsha kindly offered me the back room of their bookstore to give my readings, and for the next year, I met with these clients every now and then either there, or in coffee shops. I felt incredibly blessed to have this intuitive gift, and started to wish and wonder about eventually making these intuitive readings my 'day job.'

That inner yearning manifested into reality for me in the summer of 2009. My mom was in the mountain town of Waterton Lake, Alberta, with my aunt, and something amazing happened. 


A lady approached her in one of the town's many gift shops, and enquired about me. 


"You were here last year with a very spiritual young woman... your daughter?"


My mom and I had, in fact, been there the year before, and I had spoken with this lady for a couple of minutes. She recognized something in me, and asked me how it was possible that I carried such a spiritual aura. (She was clairvoyant, meaning, she can see the subtle energy field called an aura that surrounds the human form.) I told her that for my entire life, I had yearned to know God, and that I had meditated since my earliest of childhood memories. She shared some of her own stories. Although we spoke for a very brief time, there was an instant bond between the two of us, and we hugged in parting. 


My mom was shocked that this lady (a beautiful Indian woman named Mariam) remembered me a whole year after such a brief encounter, and even more amazed that she recognized my mom, even though the two of them had only exchanged smiles, and not introductions. 


Anyhow, they talked, and a message was conveyed: Mariam knew a Tarot reader in Vancouver, and suggested that I go see her. (Mariam also wrote a small note for me, and said to my mom, "Give this to your daughter when you feel it's the right time to give it.")

That night, my mom called to tell me excitedly about Mariam and her message, which I was very excited to hear! I was just starting to realize that I could be doing much more with my life than work retail, and had recently considered pursuing an apprenticeship from a local professional. 

The next day, as I was telling a co-worker about this message from Mariam, I looked out the window of the shop and saw Denise, the owner of a Tarot shop around the corner from us, affixing a poster on our bulletin board. I ran outside to catch her, and excitedly asked if she knew an east-Indian lady from Waterton Lake named Mariam. 

She said “No, I don’t anyone named Mariam. But tell me something- do you read Tarot cards?” 

I said, “Yes, I do! And actually, I was hoping to ask you for an apprenticeship.” 

Her reply will be a source of awe and gratitude in me for the rest of this life. She said, “You don’t need an apprenticeship. Come see me on your next break- I’ll give you a key to my shop, we’ll work out a schedule, and if you'd like to, you can start work on Monday.”

Amazed, I asked how she knew I would be any good. (Remember- she offered me this job with no references, no test, no resume!) She told me that recently, she had had my image come up in a dream, and since she herself is psychic, she just knew it would be the right thing to give me a job. 


(I am filled with infinite gratitude to Varsha and Nitin, for opening their store to me, and helping me to build confidence as a reader. Infinite gratitude pours out to all of my clients- early and contemporary- for trusting me to bring clarity to their lives. Infinite gratitude to Mariam- and my mom!- for giving me the message to talk to a Vancouver Tarot reader, and infinite gratitude to Denise! Her gift is very pure, and she has had a regular following for more than twenty five years. It's an honour and a blessing to work in her studio. An interesting side-note: the slip of paper Mariam gave to my mom with instruction to give to me when the time was right arrived in my mail box the night after I found Life Bliss Tree in Vancouver. It was the first time I had ever heard the name of Nithyananda, and I went home buzzing with spiritual ecstasy and excitement, wondering if it would be in my path to go to the Ashram. Amazingly, I opened a letter from my mom, and in it, she said- "I found this note in my purse, and thought- now must be the right time to give it to you." It was a tiny handwritten note that simply said, "Sarah- Great things are coming your way! You will be going to India soon!" Mariam's prediction came true, of course. Less than two months later, I was in Bidadi, Karnata, India, enjoying the Life Bliss Engineering program conducted by living avatar Paramahamsa Nithyananda.)

Now, the third question- how does it work?

First, let me re-explain the way the deck has been designed: Every single experience a human being can have in a lifetime is represented somewhere within the symbology of the 78 cards. Actually, the 78 cards are really 156, because they can appear right-side-up or upside-down, in which case, they register as reverse (or sometimes, emphasized) meanings.

So, how is it that these cards can be shuffled, laid out, and somehow give exactly the message my client most needs to hear? 


The science behind it is very similar to the science of any other system of divination- whether it's rune casting, I-Ching, palmistry, astrology, etc. For an accurate reading, a combination of three essential ingredients is needed: 

First, the right deck. Only with the right cards, can the right answer be put into the right words with the right pictures. (This is why, even though there are hundreds of decks on the market, I only use the Osho Zen Tarot. It has 79 cards, not 78. The 79th card is called, "The Master." It goes beyond the traditional 22 cards of the Major Arcana, and represents the state of Enlightenment, which has risen above the traditional archetypes that the average human ego experiences in life. Also, the rest of the cards each contain an element of the transcendental- their meanings allow us to go deeply into ourselves to rise beyond our circumstance, instead of just simply to understand the circumstance.)

Second, the right client. The person asking the question has to be open and clear about what they ask, or else at least, open and clear that they are not asking anything. This openness and clarity need not be spoken aloud; by 'open and clear,' I mean, the client has to have what Swamiji calls Vitarka. If they are experimental and open to the possibility of a genuine experience from the reading, they get it. It's not necessary for the client to 'believe' in the cards; but it is necessary for him or her to be willing to try it out and see. 


The client always shuffles the cards him or herself, so it's important for them to hold the intention of their question while shuffling. This is a bit mystical, but see- as the cards are shuffled, if the person shuffling is totally clear, then they are also totally, singularly centered on the process that is taking place. They are in the moment. Only then can existence come in and work through their hands to organize the cards in the right combination. I watch my clients shuffle, and I know for a fact that their focus has a direct result on the accuracy of the reading. For this reason, I ask them to repeat their question, either out aloud or in their mind, while they are shuffling. That way, while shuffling, no other thought can come in as a distraction and alter the results. (It's the same reason a master will prescribe the chanting of a mantra to a disciple- while a mantra is being chanted intensely, there is no room for any other thought. Same way, while a question is being focused on, there is no room for a, "and I also want to know..." that may muddy the message.) 

If ever a client asks a question and the message I get is different from the message I see in the cards, I ask if they were completely focused on the question while shuffling. Always in this case, they say “no.” So, I ask them to shuffle again, maintaining complete focus on the question. If they don’t know how to do that, I say, “just start talking about your question while shuffling, and when you’re finished saying what you have to say, stop shuffling.” Then, we set down the cards. After doing this, the messages line up.

(As an interesting side note- I ask the client to shuffle and select their own cards as a way of affirming that the message is not coming from me, but through me, from their own higher guidance. But when I do a long-distance reading, I myself hold the focus of the client’s question, shuffle, and select. The last time I did this, the client wrote to me and asked, “How is it possible that when you select my cards, they fit even more perfectly then when I pick them myself?” I would say, it’s because of this- when I hold the thought of the question, it is the only thought in my mind. This client in particular has recent given me an incredible experience. He wrote me an email about a dream, and asked if I could help him interpret it. At the time that I received the email, I was away from my shop, and didn't have any cards on hand. As I started to type 'let me get back to you...' instantly, I had three cards appear in my inner vision! I wrote to him saying, this is a first for me, but I'm having a vision of some cards- lets see how they relate to your dream. Part of the message from these cards was that the dream was no ordinary dream, but a visionary dream given to him by Swamiji. I went on to describe what the dream meant, and he wrote back in amazement, that he hadn't told me everything in his email. In fact, the dream began with a darshan from Swamiji, in which, Swamiji told him exactly the same message I wrote as the meaning of these cards. It seems that since his Vitarka for Swamiji, and also for these readings, is so high- I don't even need a deck to do them! Also, this was a huge and happy confirmation for me that when I surrender my ability to read to the Master, He really does take care!)

Third thing, of course, is the right reader. The person conducting the reading should know the cards completely- all the symbols, pictures and all the stories. The right reader knows how each card is affected by each other card, and how it’s meaning differs by where it lands on the table. The right reader also must know how their meanings change depending on the orientation- right side up or upside down. Beyond that, it is essential for the reader to have intuition; in fact, only with intuition can the infinite and complex combination of meanings be fully understood. 

Along with intuition, the right reader has to be unbiased, and firmly committed to sattya- truth. 


Someone once asked me what I would do if I saw something really negative come up for a client- whether I would tell them the harsh truth, or make something up. Without a doubt, I will always tell my client exactly the message I get for them, simply because that message is not coming from the cards or from me, but from existence. Existence only gives me messages that I am supposed to tell. Luckily, the messages are never ‘negative,’ in that, even when someone is experiencing something like a loss or a fear, the message about it will always be something that helps them go beyond the loss or the fear.

Okay, I said that I would explain the process that happens in me as I read the cards, so before saying anything more about ‘getting messages,’ let me explain what messages are and how I get them. 


A 'message' is the juice of the reading, the content- if my client has a question, then the message is the answer to their question; if my client doesn’t have a question, then the message is the spiritual affirmation and guidance they seek. The cards are the language through which the messages are delivered. I don’t actually need the cards to get the message, but I do need them to determine the accuracy of the message, and also to translate the message into terms the client will understand. 


What I mean is, the moment someone asks me a 'yes or no' question, I know the answer, I feel 'yes' or 'no.' Then, when the cards are laid down, if the cards indicate a yes, I know I can go ahead and tell them everything that comes up in my mind along with the yes. It’s a validation for my accuracy, and for the client's centeredness. It’s also a jumping board for me to articulate the message- the reason why the answer is yes. 


So basically, the message flows into my consciousness as an understanding, not as words or pictures, and the words and pictures on the cards are the language through which the message can be expressed. 

Something interesting to note is that I won’t describe a card the same way twice. Although each card has a standardized meaning, the variables within that meaning are so different that every single time the card comes up, even if it comes up twice for the same person- it will have a different undertone. When I first started reading, I was actually surprised by the words that came out of my mouth- entire sentences, one after the other, that I hadn’t planned. Luckily, I allowed it to happen, rather than try to speak based on my limited mental understanding. This helps me to continuously evolve and learn more about the process of downloading, and also, it guarantees that even if the same person has multiple readings, it will always be something new. 

The very first client who came to me at the Tarot Room, for example, asked me what he should do about work. I led him through shuffling the cards, and told him to “hold this question in your mind as you shuffle.” Then, I looked at the cards, and as I described them, words started flowing that I didn’t understand: “You really need to let go of the past. Five years is too long to spend battling a case that hasn’t brought any resolution. The more you try to get back what you weren’t given, the more distance you put between yourself and what you could receive now. Just put an end to it. Let it go, and from today, work on something new, instead of dwelling on something you should have had, but didn’t get.” 

As I spoke, a wave of excitement filled me (something like butterflies-in-the-stomach; an energizing of the manipuraka chakra.) That was it, I didn’t stop talking, and I didn’t know what I was saying... I didn’t know whether it was right on or way off. Behind my flow of words, there was a small part of my ego wondering if he would laugh, because the things I was saying were so specific that they could be completely wrong. Then I saw that the man was crying. 

He explained to me that five years before, he was fired from a high corporate position without any explanation. At that time, he qualified for a raise and a promotion, but was having personality conflicts with the board of directors. He took matters to court as a wrongful dismissal suit, but by the strength of the law firm handling his ex-employer, no resolution was being reached. His health started to dwindle, he had become depressed and he was near the end of his savings. A week before this reading, he was offered a job from another company, which he knew he wouldn't have time to accept if he was kept in the courtroom and lawyers office every day. Just that morning, he had told his lawyer he felt like just dropping the case and starting again fresh. His lawyer didn’t have an answer for him, and suggested he seek counsel from an uninterested third party. So, as a whim, and by his wife's suggestion, he came to see me. Of course, his expectation from the reading wasn't much, he thought he'd get some cookie-cutter advice, like 'work hard, focus on your strength, you will achieve your goals...' He was ecstatic, instead, to hear a clear affirmation of his decision to re-enter the workforce. After giving him some tissue, I asked why he was crying, and he said he was crying because he felt bad for telling his wife that Tarot was a bunch of bullshit when she had urged him to get the reading! (He wasn’t the last man to cry over that... and very nicely, his wife was my second client at The Tarot Room. She, like many other validated wives, come in not just to have a reading, but also to thank me for ‘waking up’ her husband to the realization that there really is truth to mysticism.) 

Now, this taught me a few lessons. One- that a customer doesn’t have to believe in Tarot to get an accurate reading, but they do have to be clear about their question and focused while shuffling. Even though this man didn’t tell me anything about the court case, the message that came through was complete because he was completely focused on it. The cards, though they didn’t traditionally describe a court battle, provided me with the visual cues needed to explain the message, so that he could understand how I ‘knew’ what I ‘knew.’ 

Second, I learned to trust that whatever I say, so long as I don’t plan my speech, is truth. If I try to tell someone a message, it will be coloured by my perception; tainted by my personal opinion. But if a message comes to me and I tell it straight with reference to the cards, then it is accurate. 

Also, I learned that what I do directly influences the lives of the people who come to me. Because of a Tarot reading, a corporate man decided to drop a wrongful dismissal case and go into a new line of work. As a twenty-four year old girl whose professional life consisted of retail jobs and art school, there is no way I would qualify to counsel someone of his status on such a pivotal decision. But since I was not giving him my counsel, I was clear about just passing it on from a higher source, the guidance was exactly right. 

Occasionally, but very rarely, I will turn someone away. It’s happened three times: a person comes in, and the moment I see them, I know that the reading will have an adverse effect on their life. As a reader, this is the most delicate situation for me to handle, because feelings can easily be hurt. 


Once, a man walked in and sat down, but I had to tell him that I couldn’t give him a reading. Obviously, I couldn’t just say, “Sorry, no reading for you. Get out.” What I said was this: “I’m getting a message for you. Please, go home and meditate every day for two hours, starting today, then come back in one month for your reading.” He argued, of course, that he wanted his reading right then and there, but I stayed firm, and told him that until he does a month of daily meditation, he won’t be able to properly understand the message. He said, “But I don’t want to know anything complicated, I just want to know when my wife will come back to me.” 

Then I got his message- his wife was never coming back to him. I instantly knew that if he shuffled and laid down the cards, it would be a completely accurate spread, because his mind was singularly focused on the question- and what he would see would in the cards would be Sorrow, Letting Go and Clinging to the Past. I also knew that if he saw those cards, he would become suicidal. As this was revealed to me, tears started forming in his eyes. 


Without planning it, I said, “I love you, and I value your business, but at this point, the answer can’t be revealed through the cards. If you meditate or pray, and I highly suggest you do, I can give you an accurate reading one month from now.” I know he didn’t understand why I was telling him that, but none-the-less, he accepted my business card, on which I wrote the web address for Dhyanapeetam, telling him he could find meditation instructions and downloads there.


(Update: two months after writing this blog, the man came back! He was smiling, and his whole demeanor had changed. He asked, "Do you remember me?" I said, "Yes, I do! And I can see you've done your meditations!" He said, "Well... I tried to do two hours a day, like you told me to, but some nights I got distracted... but anyhow, after one month of meditating most nights, I felt like I didn't even want the reading any more. I was going to ask you about my marital future... Anyways, now I feel like whatever happens will be the right thing. So, now, instead of asking a question, can I have a reading focused more on my spiritual path?" His was one of my favorite readings to give, and really helped me to understand that even turning a customer away can be the best thing for them.)

This seems like more than enough for now- next time, I’ll bring it back to the main purpose of this blog, and tell the story of how cards led me to Mahavatar Babaji, who in turn, led me to Swamiji. 

Love to all of you who read this! 

Your sister in Nithyananda,

Sudevi