Welcome to the Tarot...

I am a tarot reader writer, practitioner of various modalities and perpetual student, and it is a pleasure to share the journey of the tarot with you. I will be writing a monthly column so that you can engage with the tarot and become familiar with your own life's story in conjunction with the tarot cards. We will also look at family dynamics within the spectrum of tarot as well...who is the Queen of Cups in your life? what does the Emperor signify in your life? We will also deal with so called 'scary' cards in the appropriate way...And now to begin our Journey, the Major Arcana tell the story of the Fool's journey through our lives, and I am not necessarily going to write what you can find in popular tarot books this is a unique and inclusive perspective for this web page.

The Fool.
This is not what we usually think of when we say Fool; it is not the village idiot although sometimes it can be! But within every Fool is a genius waiting to come out. We all experience life differently, and the fool within you may be a very clever academic, or a very clever practical person who enhances other people's lives with what, you do and say. It may be that your special gift is to negotiate or it could even be that your special gift is to keep quiet when others are making a fuss. Whatever perspective you have towards life, it is yours uniquely.
Enter the Fool…
Co-incidentally, I am writing this on an aeroplane, as each and every person on this aircraft is going on a journey I found the synchronicity important. It was the great psychologist CG Jung who coined the word synchronicity, and with such success, that it has become part of our every-day language.
For the coming month, it would be great if you could look for synchronicities in your life, in the light of the Fools journey: Think about where you  are in your life's journey right now? The number of the Tarot card the Fool is 0 now this is important for personal development as it is as though it is a clean slate, somewhere just before the beginning, a seed idea or the face of innocence, it is a place where we can start again.
Where would you like to start again? Or where do you feel at your most adventurous? If you look at the picture of the Fool he appears carefree and hopeful or he may be careless and naïve! The Fool is that part of us which is willing to engage without considering the consequences. The Fool experiences life, but not always consciously. The Fool carries his or her own baggage, we all have some kind of life experience that has informed our lives and how we respond to situations presently. Think about your own life, do you have haunting memories from childhood that were not idyllic? Are you still not sure why you dislike a sibling, or for that matter any-one, what do they bring up for you?
The Fools journey is one where we set out to become conscious, Jung strived for human consciousness. One of my favourite quotes from Jung is 'unconsciousness is the sin of humanity' Life, is for the truly alive, for those who engage at a deep level, in my opinion, existing is for trees!
To be truly conscious takes effort. The Tarot Fool has a dog nipping at his heels, the symbolism for the dog is instinct or even intuition, and how do you use your intuition? Intuition is that deep knowingness, that knowing beyond logical explanation but, that 'feeling is right there' you sense it.
Sometimes you will intuitively know that something is wrong, from a mundane issue such as knowing that some-one is lying to you, and then you find out that what you intuited is right!
There is a challenge between intuition and projection, and not all projection is wrong, it is the way that we understand the world according to our own lens of perception, but we have to be aware of our own issues to be able to be sure that our intuition is correct.
The issue with projection is that you may think some-one has a particular quality but this is what you expect because it is within your life experience, this comes from the patterning of your own familial history. The Fools journey is to understand the self. And to use some of the tools, he carries his baggage lightly, there is no large trunk weighing him down, his intuition is at his heels, and his emotions do not control him because he has freedom of emotional movement. He takes risks; our spiritual development is completely dependent on living the life of a Fool, because if we can do that we can engage the imagination a very valuable part of the human psyche, to assist in our connection with other worlds, and to live a creative life.
An exercise to do this month: Every evening before you go to sleep, ask this question. What positive attribute will I discover if I look deep within myself? Imagine you have grabbed the Fool by the hand, and you are on a personal journey. Enjoy the trip, and we will meet again in cyberspace next month!

About Bernie
Bernie Rowen relocated to Scotland from South Africa, where she had a counselling practiced based on Jungian principles and shamanic work. She has published 2 books, Massage, published by New Holland Publishing and Natural Solutions an A-Z of natural healing published by Metz press. She holds many qualifications in Natural Medicine and counselling from Reiki to clinical hypnotherapy and holds a diploma in Adult Education from the University of Cape Town she is registered with Independent Professional Therapists International as well as Tarot Professionals.
She lives in Livingston and runs a practice using both tarot and astrology as tools for spiritual and personal development. Bernie also runs psychic development evening's, all welcome, particularly beginners. To make an appointment This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it her or call 01506-433638