Alternate States of Consciousness and Tarot

DISCLAIMER: THIS POST IS NOT INTENDED TO PROMOTE THE USE OF LEGAL AND/OR ILLEGAL PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES. IT IS SOLELY WRITTEN FOR THEORETICAL DISCUSSION ON ALTERNATE STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND THEIR USE IN GAINING INSIGHT WITH THE TAROT

For the past four to five months I have been vigorously analyzing the structure of Tarot through the Kabbalah and it's correspondences to the states of consciousness or more commonly 'The Soul's Journey'. My natural curiosity for the historical and modern use of psychoactive and entheogenic substances has come to an interesting conjuncture which I'd like to discuss here

Many people who have used psychoactive substances like LSD, Psilocybin Mushrooms, DMT etc for personal development (not recreation) have reported their experiences in a manner which I think is pictorially depicted within the Tarot's Major Arcana specifically. The Fool being the consumer of the substance and his or her 'trip' or 'journey' towards enlightenment which is The World (or for Fountain Tarot users, The Fountain)

The people who've consumed these substances have all reported feelings of Unity and Oneness along with their more Psychotherapeutic experiences of resolving sub-conscious issues that they were not aware of or were avoiding. These two experiences particularly caught my attention because they are exactly what The Fool is journeying to achieve

My questions are; have you experienced these alternate states of consciousness in conjunction with Tarot? If so, what insight did you gain on the cards? If not, what do you think about these correlations?

Sincerely

-uraszz

I personally haven't tried, but I find this subject really interesting. I can't wait to see what others have to say about it.

I'm pretty sure it's possible to achieve alternate states of consciousness without the use of any kind of substances though? Through meditation for example?

Anyway I'll follow this thread with enthusiasm

Onaorkal said:

I personally haven't tried, but I find this subject really interesting. I can't wait to see what others have to say about it.

I'm pretty sure it's possible to achieve alternate states of consciousness without the use of any kind of substances though? Through meditation for example?

Anyway I'll follow this thread with enthusiasm

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Of course it's possible to achieve these states of mind without any psychoactive substance but those are pretty hard and need long years of experience. I think that's why people turn to these substances; they're quick to give results

Onaorkal said:

I personally haven't tried, but I find this subject really interesting. I can't wait to see what others have to say about it.

I'm pretty sure it's possible to achieve alternate states of consciousness without the use of any kind of substances though? Through meditation for example?

Anyway I'll follow this thread with enthusiasm

Click to expand...

I think so. Any ecstatic experience would be an example, eg, sex, sometimes in shamanic journeying, dancing, listening to, singing to or playing music. Can't think what else, right now.

I've been clean and sober for over 31 years and only been using the cards for a little less than 20 years, so I've not tried any superficially altered states of consciousness while using them. However, in a certain respect, an altered state is how I read. The information I get isn't from "here" you might say. It's information that comes from somewhere that's somehow enhanced compared to my regular knowledge but yet it's not "big woo-woo" like trying to experience something profound through chemical means.

Now, backing up a little, when my back first got really bad a couple years ago, I was put on medication that was pretty potent to ease the muscle spasms and pain. My body wasn't used to mood-altering substances anymore. I had an exchange thread going here at that time, so I did a reading for someone that was waaayyy out there and I'm kind of embarrassed to this day by the reading. lol I have a sense of humor, though, so thank goodness I can look back and laugh at myself.

So for me, I'm sure it would really affect my readings badly if I were to experiment with using an altered state brought on by chemical means. I wouldn't trust the results.

Gwynydd said:

I think so. Any ecstatic experience would be an example, eg, sex, sometimes in shamanic journeying, dancing, listening to, singing to or playing music. Can't think what else, right now.

Click to expand...

I think we can really say that RYTHM is what gets us going in terms of ASoC

Grizabella said:

I've been clean and sober for over 31 years and only been using the cards for a little less than 20 years, so I've not tried any superficially altered states of consciousness while using them. However, in a certain respect, an altered state is how I read. The information I get isn't from "here" you might say. It's information that comes from somewhere that's somehow enhanced compared to my regular knowledge but yet it's not "big woo-woo" like trying to experience something profound through chemical means.

Now, backing up a little, when my back first got really bad a couple years ago, I was put on medication that was pretty potent to ease the muscle spasms and pain. My body wasn't used to mood-altering substances anymore. I had an exchange thread going here at that time, so I did a reading for someone that was waaayyy out there and I'm kind of embarrassed to this day by the reading. lol I have a sense of humor, though, so thank goodness I can look back and laugh at myself.

So for me, I'm sure it would really affect my readings badly if I were to experiment with using an altered state brought on by chemical means. I wouldn't trust the results.

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I think I do understand where you're coming from because of past experience with experimenting with these things. When in these ASoC levels our rational thinking process is inhibited so even the craziest things could sound plausible and the best idea you've ever had lol

But what I'm actually asking is using tarot in these states for personal readings and/or meditation. Already inclined to delve deep into yourself I think these consciousness levels could increase the depth of the experience

uraszz said:

I think we can really say that RYTHM is what gets us going in terms of ASoC

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Most definitely!

Cool topic I am also very interested in altered states of consciousness and have only begun to delve into how it relates to spirituality. I myself have never taken a psychoactive substance, but am curious if people who report these spiritual feelings are tapping "into" something or if these substances "free the mind" so to speak and they are more able to connect with something within themselves? Not sure if that makes sense, but none-the-less I find this stuff fascinating.

As I mentioned, I have never taken a psychoactive drug and I have never done a reading while on drugs (alcohol, pain killers, etc...). I was always warned that that was a really bad idea, lol, so I haven't had the urge to try it. However, I do feel I briefly touch on an alternate state of consciousness when I read anyway. The way I read is a little different - I shuffle and do my little prayer before I fan out the cards. Then, based on my question, I meditate briefly before I start pulling cards - this meditation always pulls me into a weird state where I feel very warm and "limp". I ask questions based on the situation I'm reading on and let my hands be pulled to the appropriate card....kind of like a Ouiji board I guess.

Basically I try to completely remove myself from the present - remove my biases, wants, desires, etc... and "surrender" myself to a higher level of being in order to read the cards that I pull. For me this is kind of like an alternate state. I can't stay in this state for very long and if I need to do multiple pulls it takes longer and longer to get back to the "limp" stage for me.

I'm curious if others have read "under the influence" and what their experience was like Grizabella's story made me laugh - that's kind of how I imagined the experience to be.

I'm interested...

I live in Washington where Marijuana is now legal. I used to use it when I worked out as a teenager, it gave me a different state of mind like being out of my body, that enabled me to freely move and work out very hard at the same time. I haven't tried it yet, but I think I will, do some reading just for myself...meditative. I'll post when I've done it.