Past Life - Karma Study

Cerulean - comments on your first reading.

Earth - Ace Pentacles

Strong focus on the material in the past. Blessed with the potential to be successful in whatever you choose to do.

Water - 9 Swords

Emotional conflict and difficulty in expressing your feelings. A challenge to be overcome.

Fire - Page Swords

Shows your ability to do just that - to transform and take a new path.

Air - 6 Cups

What a beautiful card. You have the ability to see the world through a childs eyes. The desire to create and bring beauty and harmony into peoples lives.

Spirit - 3 Cups

Which means you are connected to your Spirit's path. To find this sense of joyous celebration, of love and sharing and group participation may not have been easy considering that 9 Swords.

Currently - 4 Wands - you have found a measure of freedom from past restrictions, created a strong foundation for your future and can celebrate your achievement so far.

Cerulean, thank you for your feedback on my reading. It was dynamic, something I certainly didn't expect - a bit too watery! Certainly interesting to read others interpretations.

Catpaw - Dark Moon reading

Hi Catpaw - here are my thoughts on your spread - fascinating stuff - did you notice the similarity to your first reading and the same water/fire conflict.


Queen Cups

In this lifetime you were a woman during a time when a woman’s role was defined as revolving around hearth and home. Your life was spent in the supportive role of a loving wife and mother and their welfare was always your first concern. Overall you were happy - a gentle person who preferred to have a strong partner to make the decisions and to lean on. However, you did have your own unique gifts, probably in some creative field but they were never fully developed. At some point in your life there was an opportunity for you to follow your own path but a natural timidity and lack of confidence combined with your family duties prevented you from following through. In later life there was a sense of sadness and regret, a feeling of loss for the unrealised dream.

Ace Wands -

The dream lives on - in a different form but the little flame of energy and desire burns on and in today’s society you have the opportunity to make the dream a reality. The only difficulties will lie within yourself - discovering where and how to direct the energy. You say you aren’t the Queen of Cups - this is quite revealing considering the number of cups that are appearing in your readings. I would say you have many of her loving, intuitional and spiritual qualities but you are having to learn to draw on them. In the past lifetime you gave so much from the heart and in the process sacrificed your own growth so that now you unconsciously fear that happening again. It won’t!

6 Pentacles

The sixes speak of recovery, harmony and balance. Karma is about correcting imbalances. You have so much to give and share with others and but you have to accept and believe in the gifts that Spirit has given to you and then combine them with the confidence and power of that Ace Wands. This card suggests that you are progressing well on your path and will indeed achieve that karmic balance.

Hope this resonates a little with you - if there’s one thing past life readings does it’s throwing hidden fears right at your feet! Now I shall go and do mine.

Blessings

Mooncat - thanks

Mooncat, Thanks for your feedback and your insights on both readings and for bringing some aspects together. I especially liked your reminder that karmic readings do place our fears at our feet so must deal with them.

Catpaw

mooncat2 - Dark Moon reading

I've used the Bohemian Cats. I know I'm late and playing catch up again - this spread has been sitting here for a week waiting to be posted but I thought it was an excellent one after originally having doubts about 3 cards being enough for this sort of reading.

1. Major issue or event from my past life that remains unresolved in present life .

The Lovers - What a delightful pair - he looks very well set up and she hangs on his arm very happily. Her protector and provider - what more could any young fluffy head want. I'm sure this couple had a very satisfactory life and something tells me I've had a few like this.
The issues are dependency and balance in relationships and also the process of individuation - personal growth.
For much of this present lifetime I've repeated this pattern.

2. Represents something hidden from me in my current life related to the incident in Card 1 in which a major karmic debt was incurred

Hermit - The hermit is my soul card and here he is again. To take that inner spiritual journey and begin to discover who I really am but more importantly to take the light into the world and shine it for others. On my own, alone, by myself!!!!! That is the challenge.

3. Outcome of the hidden karmic issue if I continue on in my current life without changing course. If this card shows a good outcome, then I may already be turning toward the path of wisdom that will rease the negative karma.

3 Wands - This cat stands on a balcony overlooking the city, wearing a fine red cloak of confidence. Above him a ship on a weather vane - the cat seems to have his nose to the breeze waiting for the right wind to blow so he can venture forth.
Which is about exactly where I am , the problem being I've been standing on the balcony for so long I've grown roots.

This card raised some interesting questions. It is said that we follow the zodiac signs through our lifetimes. I am a Pisces and the 3 Wands is the Sun in Aries. Does this mean that I have gone as far as I can in this lifetime and must wait until my next life before venturing further - as an Aries .

I decided to draw the 4th card - 10 Cups.

I am back to the beginning and now the couple are standing on a balcony, their backs to me , waving. I have to let go of this need for someone to hold my hand, make the decisions, set the pace and the direction. I have to learn to do these things myself or else I will spend the rest of this life waiting on the balcony. Ten is completion but its also a transition so perhaps there is a choice here.

A very revealing spread - although I understood this lack of self motivation is a problem for me I would have imagined there were other issues more important. Going to be interesting to see what comes next.

I may try to analyze later...

I jumped ahead to the Irish Cross post of Catpaw and posted my Irish cross there.

Thanks for feedback and revival of this!

Regards,

Cerulean

Mooncat, interesting reading for you. Perhasp though the 3 of wands is you moving forward and the 10 of Cups is another couple (family?) waving goodbye and good luck to you as you journey forward?

Catpaw

past lives

can anyone tell me what the purpose of looking into past lives is? also are there really past lives. i wondered this as i look more into tarot at first i say no, as i have been reading the Bible for yrs but as i think more to myself and wonder if God wants us to become a total "whole" person for lack of a better word before we go to heaven or hell. i am not sure if i am right or wrong was just wondering u guys thoughts as i look more into doing a past life spead. thanks for ur help in advance

This was based on a certain book from Llewellyn

Here's one review:

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/books/past-life-karmic-tarot/

I have no real experience in many associated items that Western writers such as Edgar Cayce may suggest belong with 'past life' self-discovery. I'm sorry, I do not quite know how to suggest a value to this if your belief system is tied to Western Biblical scripture.

If the book stirs an interest of you, to expanding your ideas with tarot, that's great. The book was of interest to me in how the layouts focused on 'healing' past issues that came into one's awareness, with an open mind. I had no judgement in terms of how others came into their self-discovery or awakening awareness.

That is only my experience and limited view. My background is a mixture of Eastern and Western, which probably sounds very different from where you are coming from.

Best regards,

Cerulean

I just bought the book and have tried one spread. Looking forward to studying it in more depth. I'm also looking into the astrology and Karma.
I'll be interested in this thread.

RSW

Examples of information and spread from the book.

Edain McCoy excerpt shows one spread:

http://www.llewellyn.com/bookstore/blurb.php?pn=J508&type=Excerpt

I was examining the book again and looked on the web for the Edain McCoy description of the book:

http://www.llewellyn.com/bookstore/article.php?id=638

~~~~~

Below, another excerpt and spread from this book:

http://www.angelfire.com/nm/spiritualwarrier/index.613.html
Tarot Spread: The Dark Moon Spread

This months tarot spread comes from Edain McCoy's new book Past Life & Karmic Tarot (Llewellyn Publications, 2004). It is named for the new moon (the dark moon - specifically the three night period when no moon shows), and deals with matters of a hidden nature. This can be used as a three or four card spread, and shows what is hidden from the Seeker in terms of karma from a past life, as well as how that karma will manifest in their present life if they continue on the path that they are currently on.

Ms McCoy presents the layout in this fashion:

3
2
1

I prefer to read it in a linear fashion:

1 2 3

The positions are defined as follows:

1. A major issue or event from the past life of the Seeker that remains unresolved in their present life.

2. Something hidden in the Seeker's current life that is related to card number 1.

3. The outcome of this hidden karmic issue is the Seeker remains on their current path.

4. This card is only drawn if the outcome in card number 3 was unacceptable, and the Seeker wishes to change it. Card number 4 hints at changes the Seeker can make in their current life to overcome this past karma. If a card number 4 is drawn, it is placed over card number 2 in the spread.

If there was work that needed to be done to help resolve the past life karma, Ms McCoy recommends repeating the spread after the Seeker has had some time to implement the indicated changes in their life to see if the karma has been resolved, or if more work is needed.

The cards that I pulled for this example are:

1. The Chariot
2. Death
3. Hierophant

The karma from this Seeker's past life that is being carried forward has to do with self discipline, and maintaining control over one's emotions and ones life. Body, mind and spirit were not in alignment in this lifetime, and the Seeker was not able to overcome the obstacles in their path.

What is hidden in the Seeker's present life is the need to let go of what no longer serves them, and to allow change to come into their life. This is a time of dissolving self-imposed boundaries and releasing the restrictions on how the Seeker expresses themselves.

The outcome, if the Seeker remains on their current path, has a great deal to do with the spiritual nature of the Seeker, with their connection to the Divine in their life. If they are able to balance their inner, intuitive voice with their need to conform to the world around them, this karmic issue can be resolved.

I did not draw a 4th card here, because I feel that the answer to this karmic issue is within the nature of the Hierophant itself, and should be addressed on that level.

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The reminder to me from all these excerpts...how I could use the spreads to look at questions with a thought of 'what wisdom can I learn from this past experience? What relevance does this issue have to me now, to resolve and actively get past the situation that I am evaluating? Is there a past behavior pattern that I might remember or identify, that I need to correct?

So I use the spreads from this book and a tarot deck in a different, creative way to come up with ideas and solutions. Hope that explains an interesting variation for this title...best wishes!

Cerulean