Maybe it’s simply that so many decks are wildly beautiful and speak to our imaginative souls. Maybe it’s because we creatives have a natural tendency to look for pattern, meaning and story, all of which tarot cards provide. The cards speak in an imaginative language of symbol, images and metaphor and the spreads provide a framework and underlying structure for exploration – familiar territory for the creative heart.
I’ve been fascinated by tarot cards since I was a teenager. I remember going with my sisters to The Omega Centre, the one and only store where you could buy tarot cards in Toronto. Bathed in the smell of incense, listening to the tinkling sound of chimes over gentle music playing, we gazed at the decks in the glass case behind lock and key. We pored over the binder that held pictures from each of the decks, trying to discern which of these beauties was for us.
Once we’d chosen, we’d take our treasures over to the Second Cup, a coffee shop just on the fringe of Yorkville, sit by the window and one by one reveal each card to one another. We learned their magic together.
One of my fondest tarot memories is the three of us lounging around my first apartment chatting through each of the cards. This was especially helpful with the court cards. We had a blast coming up with who we thought was the the Queen of Swords or the King of Pentacles. From that day forward I have always thought of the King of Cups as Ed Harris’s character Virgil in The Abyss.
Since those early days, the tarot has been a part of my life and my adventures! A few of my favourites are my sister Shannon and I flying to Cape Cod so that I could do tarot coaching at a creative event run by a blogging friend, working for a brief time at the National Psychic Hotline and years of sharing Osho Zen cards every day on Twitter. Today I’m sharing with you the four core decks that have been a part of that journey. Be sure to watch for my upcoming flip-throughs of each of these decks so you can see if any of them are meant for you.