The Tarot-for-Life Project

This is a very wacky idea that I’ve been working on for about a month. I am a believer in the Body-for-Life program, having been on and off of it for two years and believing that it is the only approach to exercise and nutrition that has ever allowed me to feel in control of my body. The program is based around the idea of a 12-week (84 day) challenge. For each challenge, you set specific goals and follow a fairly strict diet and exercise regimen.

Taking control of my body is still the major theme in my life. I know that one of the reasons that the Cosmic Tribe deck is so powerful for me is because many of the issues in my life relate to my body. The approach to nudity in the deck is both healing and powerful for me

In early August, I picked up Gerd Ziegler’s Tarot: Mirror of the Soul. I was very taken with its approach because of the use of questions and affirmations for each card. I decided to put the book away until I was ready to start going through it, using a card each day. In think about that, the similarity of 78 cards and 84 days struck me as serendipitous.

I’ve decided to put the power of these three things together. For the next twelve weeks, I will be undertaking a Body-for-Life challenge that will power an exploration of the Cosmic Tribe and Thoth decks using Ziegler’s book. Like the Cosmic Tribe deck, this challenge will bring together my body and my soul. Seven times I will do a Celtic Cross spread using the Cosmic Tribe to chart my progress and my inner landscape. On each of the other days, I will choose one card to study and to guide.

I am posting this here because I will be making an intense study of the Cosmic Tribe deck and would like to invite wisdom from those who are familiar with it. I am hoping to encourage some more discussion in the study group. Anyone who wishes to join me in this venture is, of course, welcome. I think that Mirror of the Soul and the Cosmic Tribe are a fairly natural fit. If others think my weirdness belongs elsewhere on the site, or simply off it, please let me know.

Landon

I think that is brilliant Landon! Sounds like a great endevour and I look forward to following your progress here.

I also have Mirror of the Soul by Gerd Ziegler and bought to help my studies of the Thoth tarot. I have not really considered it in terms of Cosmic Tribe but now that you mention it... I think it will work! Are you using the book that came with the Cosmic Tribe deck as well? It may be useful to compare and contrast the two books.

I will try and have some input on your reflections when ever I can.

Good luck and enjoy!

Landon that sounds fabulous! Although I do not have the book you will be using, I will eagerly follow the threads and contribute where appropriate. Thank you for sharing with us!

Three of Cups

Thanks for the support for this project. I am using the Cosmic Tribe book as well as Mirror of the Soul.

The card I drew for my first day was an appropriate one. One of the key concepts of the Body-for-Life program is the pretentiously titled Law of Universal Reciprocation. This is basically an active form of the Golden Rule. In order fror any endeavor to be successful, we require positive energy from those around us. In order to positive energy from other, we need to give it ourselves. This is the basic fuel for success, and it brings me right to today’s card.

The three of cups puts together the concepts of friendship and abundance, suggesting that they are one. The Cosmic Tribe card has much the same feel as the Thoth card but emphasizes the background water more and does not depict flowing water. Three winged fairies are added, dancing and playing in the glow that comes from the colorful cups. They are the Princess of Cups, the cherub from the Lovers card, and the Prince of Wands. I like to think the repetition of models here suggests the way that friendship can cut across barriers. The dancers, of course, echo the RWS

I get a feeling of space, playfulness, and tranquility from the card. There is celebration here, both of the individual and of their meeting.

In Mirror of the Soul, Gerd Ziegler gives a question, a suggestion, and an affirmation for each card. I want to write about each of these to reflect on my experience and the power of the cards. He also gives key words and an indication of the card’s divinatory menaing, but I do not intend to deal with those for each card.

Question:

Are there any people toward whom you have not outwardly expressed the love you feel for them?

My answer: Tons! I need to work on this. The difficulty of friendship is a big theme throughout my life. I tend to have one friend at time, and some friendly acquaintances. Since my wife and I have been together, she has been the center of my emotional life, mostly to the exclusion of others. I tend to feel like my affection toward people is basically unwanted. I also have a hard time making plans to share social time and expressing the interest and concern I feel toward others. This cuts me off in many ways and makes me less useful than I might be. However, it is also one of the reasons why I have been able to have intense and meaningful relationships with a select few people.

Suggestion:

Give whatever you would like to now, in full awareness of your boundless richness.

My response: I guess I did this today-worked for eleven hours, didn’t mind. Tried to get everything set up perfectly for other people.

Affirmation:

Today life gives me everything I need to be happy.

My response: It certainly has. It’s been a tiring, but enjoyable day.

Strength

This may be my favorite card in the deck. The image is central to my belief that the Cosmic Tribe can be a vehicle to bring together physical and spiritual development. The figure in the card radiates peace- the body’s strength comes from inner harmony. He stands above the lioness in a pose of rapturous openness. The flames that spring from him show his inspiration and capacity for action. The eyes above them link lion and tamer: each is a picture of strength.

This card is the image of the man I want to be. This is my destination. Also my growth card for the year.

Mirror of the Soul of the soul uses the Thoth deck, so Ziegler is writing about Lust. I’m still using his prompts for reflection.

Questions:

What areas of your life would you like to live out more fully? What has prevented you from doing so in the past? Are you ready to deal with this anew?

Answer: I would like to live a fuller life in the physical, artistic, and career spheres. I often hang back from what I really want to do because of fear and ambivalence. I am usually afraid to let people know what I really want and nearly always of two minds about whether or not I really want it. I hate being pegged down as one person. I want to live out all my possibilities and aspirations. The problem with this is that I often end up spinning my wheels. A professor in college was fond of a quote about how a boy can have many faces but a man can have only one. That has always resonated for me because I know how much I want to avoid choosing one face. Years later, I start to recognize that I am never going to be able to be just one person. I will always be changing myself. That is my face. Now I need to be bolder about going fully and joyfully through each phase in my evolution, to really be the man I am today and let that lead into the man I will be tomorrow. I am ready to pin myself down. I am ready to follow through bravely and compassionately on my needs and desires. I refuse to be ashamed of them.

Suggestion:

Take everything in with more awareness. We often experience emotions such as love, sadness, pain, rage, or fear as obstacles only because we never learned to use them as potential energy

Response: I have gotten much better at this. My understanding of my emotions keeps growing. I am much better at sorting out physical causes of emotion and letting myself feel what I feel without throwing myself into crisis. I still need to develop skill and courage to use my emotional energy more powerfully.

Affirmation:

I enjoy living to the utmost.

Re: Strength

Landon said:

The figure in the card radiates peace- the body’s strength comes from inner harmony. He stands above the lioness in a pose of rapturous openness. The flames that spring from him show his inspiration and capacity for action. The eyes above them link lion and tamer: each is a picture of strength.

Click to expand...

I love your description of this card!

Prince of Wands

Thanks, Jewel, for your comment about my description of Strength.

The Prince of Wands balances between extremes, graced by flames of inspiration and intensity. He is beatified. The location of the flames and his posture vaguely suggest crucifixion. He looks at neither the bar nor the world below but upward. He is bounded by walls on either side.

The sense I get from this card is a combination of resignation and intensity. He is caught at the moment where performance has become a burden, but he’s been through this before. He doesn’t doubt himself or the worthiness of his task. He offers up this moment, knowing that it is part of the process.

The Question:

What challenges are present now in your life?

I face the continuing challenge of improving my body, a seemingly endless road. The hardest part of this may be getting enough sleep. I feel pretty bad today because I only got about five hours of sleep last night. I should be aiming for nine and not settling for less than seven. I face many challenges at work, the largest one being the anger I have about many situations. I am not letting that anger goad me into negative behavior, but avoiding it is a chore. I talk too much about how angry or annoyed I am. I often wish I would just shut up but don’t manage to do it. I face the challenge of learning about the Tarot and getting in touch with my intuition.

Suggestion:

Spread your arm wide and breathe deeply into your heart.

Done. I don’t know that I’ve ever tried to breathe into my heart before. It’s nice.

Affirmation:

I love life and life loves me.

Not really feeling this one. Often life seems to me like a great big glass of milk, full of corporeal, biological goodness. I hate milk. I love people, I love animals, I love ideas, I love art, but life? Incarnation is a necessary obscenity. A great part of my struggle with my body comes from my distaste for the physical world. I used to be much happier in the virtual world of computers. Now I am recognizing the depth of my need for tactile experience, to touch and to sweat. And I do love life. Often.

Balance

One of the interesting things about the Cosmic Tribe Balance is the evident humanity of the figure. The Thoth Adjustment is much more abstract, more a statue than a breathing person. The cross-dressing Balance does not just weigh outer reality against inner, male against female, but also incarnation against abstraction. Something I love about both figures is the fact that each balances only on the tip of the sword, able to stay in place only because of perfect equipoise.

Question:
What helps you to reach your meditative center, and to stay there? What happens when you lose your center?

Meditation, obviously, but I don’t mediate often enough. Tarot helps me to find me center by pulling me out a situation and letting me look at things in a new way. It is a guide that helps me to reach my intuitive self and leave action for action’s sake. Exercise helps me find me center by pulling me out of my thoughts and into my body. Walking outside, especially on the beach helps me find my center by feeling myself as part of the natural world. Music.

When I lose my center I move into destructive, repetitive patterns of thought and action.

Suggestion:
Take time regularly for some from of meditation which steadies you in your center. Breathe into the Hara center (a hand’s width below the naval) and collect your energies there.

I really do need to move into regular practice.

Affirmation:
I am at rest in my own center.

This one does speak to me. I know this feeling!

You are doing really well Landon! I can see jow this relates well to your Body-for-life program. Thanks for sharing your reflections and I look forward to reading more.

The Devil

Thanks, Kayne, for your comments. I’m not sure if this is really worth posting- it seems to veer between the personal and the obvious. But, for the time being, I persevere.

I was out of town for the weekend, so I’m a few days behind. Friday’s card was the Devil. The Cosmic Tribe devil is the god Pan. He dances playfully behind a primitive phallic sculpture, sticking out his tongue. He is a garish green man from the waist up and a goat from there down. He is identified with male energy through the purple circle that surrounds both the sculpture and his upraised hands. He doesn’t seem dangerous, but he is.

The Devil is a big part of the equation of my changing relationship with my body. Unlike Strength, he is unbridled and potentially destructive masculinity- in this deck the two cards are opposites. But it isn’t possible to get to the enlightened calm of Strength without giving the Devil his due. He is pure male fuel, an essential force in the creation. I need to acknowledge his part in my life without letting him take me too far into danger. This is not easy.

Question:

Do you have some wish or desire you don’t admit to?

Yes. Many fewer than I had a year ago, but yes.

Affirmation:

I am the master of my life