|
Kabbalistic Tarot in London |
|
 Hi, I'm Jon, a specialist reader offering a premium Tarot service based in London. I'm one of the Tarot Professionals Consuls for the UK and the editor of the world's best and largest circulating dedicated Tarot Magazine, Tarosophist International.
I've been studying the Tarot since I was 15 years old, and I've been a professional since 2007. My particular approach to the Tarot is using a mixture of Kabbalah, astrology and numerology to give as detailed and flexible reading as I can. I don't use 'reversals,' a system used by some readers where a card means something good the right way up and something bad if it's upside down . Instead, I use a system where every card affects every other card, giving a deeper kind of reading with more shades of grey. My favorite deck is the Crowley-Harris Thoth deck, a beautiful deck with elements of Art Deco, Art Nouveau and Cubism.
The Thoth deck was the result of a collaboration between Alistair Crowley - controversial magician and closet mountain climber - and the artist Lady Frieda Harris, who was one of Crowley's only long term friends. They started the deck at the end of the 1930s, a project that lasted until the middle of the Second World War. The deck draws extensively on the mythology from a number of cultures, especially Ancient Egyptian. Out of all the Tarot decks I've used, this is the one that has always 'spoken' to me the most, and I hope it will speak to you. |
|
What can I do with Tarot? |
|
People seek Tarot readings for a lot of reasons - you might be concerned about the outcome of a difficult time in your life, you might be interested in knowing what you'll need to know in the year ahead, or want to know more about parts of your life like love, money or your career. Many people come to me when they face a difficult decision and I turn to the Tarot to show them the strengths and weaknesses in their various options, what warnings lie ahead and what previously unseen issues might need to be thought about.
For the purposes of my work I see Tarot as a form of Divination - a way to find out information outside of your sphere of knowledge. In the past I have used Tarot to explore the past, the present and the future, for myself and for others.
The most important thing about Tarot is to understand that there is just as much art to asking a question as there is to being the reader and answering it. This isn't to say that you should worry about whether you're doing it right, but it's always worth thinking about the kind of questions you're asking, and how useful the answers will be. Look at this question:
"Will I get X?"
It's a very common style of question for people seeking a Tarot Reading, but think about it - how useful is the answer? If the cards say yes, then great! If they say no, or maybe? Tarot doesn't read some alternate fairytale world, Tarot Readings are about real people's lives, and there are rarely easy answers. At eRasputin I encourage you to ask a more useful kind of question:
"I want X, how can I get it?" |
|
Is my future set in stone? |
"By Observing something, we change it."
The line above sums up an idea in physics called the Observer Effect, the idea that before something has been observed it exists in all states at once. In Tarot this both is and isn't accurate: Tarot does not resolve a whole field of potential futures into one, Tarot just reads those unresolved currents in fate. Where it is accurate is that by observing those currents we can change them. The human will is an operative factor in the 'weather' of fate. If Tarot was just the act of pulling back a curtain and seeing a future set in stone, then to be honest, I wouldn't have the nerve to charge money for it - that would a depressing and largely useless service.
The whole point of Divination (Tarot and every other form like Astrology, Numerology, Bird Omens) is that throughout history it has been used by powerful people to maximize their advantages: Elizabeth I didn't ask John Dee whether she would have a good coronation, she asked him when was the best time to do it. When Greek Generals fought the Persians they didn't ask if they would win, they asked how to win. Future is not set in stone, the whole point of Divinations like Tarot is to take control of your future and make sure it happens the way you want.
|
 |
|
|