The tarot invites us to free our minds to the imprint of their meaning upon our lives at any point in time. There are a plethora of traditional, time-honored interpretations we can bring to our tarot practices. However, making tarot personal and intimate goes beyond standard interpretations. In order to take flight into the poetry of the tarot, we must entertain the myriad ways in which each card can be interpreted in collaboration with the other cards. It is essential to include our intuitive impulses, plus our own mental connecting prowess, not just book meanings.

Surrendering ourselves into the vastness of the tarot requires building a relationship with it that is separate from memorized meanings. This attitude and strategy is what brings tarot to life before our eyes. It elevates the tarot from simply an object of deliberate study to also becoming a living, breathing embodiment of our daily lives; past, present, and future. It is the magnificent storyteller of our soul's path.

I know that for some, learning tarot can feel like an arduous task: 78 images stare up at us, all with deeply nuanced meanings combined with intricate levels of symbolism. It can be daunting to pick up a deck as a beginner, and even more intimidating to sort out how to begin learning. The more classic or traditional tarot decks are steeped in mythological and biblical tales, embedded with Egyptian hieroglyphs, letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and other esoteric symbolism. While it may seem a bit rebellious, even foolish, to connect with tarot cards first through your own intuition, it is a way to gain access to innate realms of wisdom that live within you. One of the methods for engaging your intuition to reveal personal truths held within the tarot is meditation.

Meditation is a flexible, universal modality that can be applied in many areas of spiritual practice. It not only stills our mind, but also opens our sixth sense to potential feedback and input intuitively gathered from our psychic tools. One psychic tool that pairs well with meditation is tarot. No matter how long you have been reading tarot cards, you can use meditation techniques to open a deeper awareness of the meanings and stories in the cards.

The combination of meditation and tarot isn't just for those who want to deepen their relationship and understanding of the tarot, but also for those with a dedicated meditation practice who are bored and looking for a new, fresh way to meditate! You can pull one card a day, and spend time connecting to its imagery as a way to clear your mind or move through a challenging moment with more clarity.

HOW TO BEGIN
Set and setting matters. I prefer a quiet, undisturbed spot in my bedroom for meditation and tarot. When I go in there and close the door, it's me time. I can spread out on the bed and know I am always in a comforting cocoon. Locating a space in your home that feels conducive to about 15- 20 minuntes of connecting with the cards is best. If you enjoy working with any sacred tools or objects, gather those around you.

If you have housemates and don't have much capability for seclusion, never fear! You don't need to be sequestered in dark room to meditate. As a matter of fact, parks or hiking trails are excellent options. If you have a lunch break at work, grab your tarot deck and take a walk to some place in nature. As long as you won't be interrupted, you can be somewhere near others. You can sit in the parking ramp on a work break or seek out a private room at a nearby library. Get a good set of noise-cancelling headphones. You can create the space to make this practice work for you.

A few thoughts on deck choice. If you don't already have a deck of tarot cards, you may wish to begin with the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot. It's a great basic deck with which to learn. Eventually you can expand from there, and incorporate other decks that speak to you. The Rider-Waite-Smith is the most universally used and written about deck, so you'll see examples of it all over the internet and in most traditional tarot teaching texts.

Here are three simple meditation and tarot techniques you can begin using now to support your personal path and life choices.

Choose Your Card Meditation
In this meditation exercise, you first look through your tarot deck face up and choose a card that speaks to you in the moment. You may not initially know why, and that's ok. Pull the card from the deck and place in front of you.

Now take a few nice deep breaths, and focus on emptying your mind. Try visualizing all of your thoughts being put in a safe or a large wooden box with a lock on it. Or, you can imagine your thoughts dissipating into the atmosphere, transformed into butterflies. Whatever visual can help you slow your thinking processes is helpful.

Now look at your card, and answer these questions quietly to yourself:

1. How does the card make you feel?
2. What is the story in the card?
3. How might this card relate to what is happening right now in your life?

Make note of it in a journal or notebook for later pondering.

One-Minute Tarot Meditation
This meditation exercise is best done sitting at a table, where you can spread your cards out in front of you. Hold your tarot cards in your hands. Take a few nice deep breaths, slowing down your body's biorhythms and your thoughts so you can focus and concentrate. While you shuffle your deck, send your intention into the cards for what it is you would like to know.

Next, fan the cards out on the table in front of you. Slowly run your dominant hand across the tarot cards, paying attention to any tingles of energy surging through your fingertips telling you which card to draw. Pull the first card you feel connected to. Trust your instincts.

After that, gaze at the card and simply allow thought forms, feelings, intuitive impressions, or messages to pop into your mind. How does this card mirror what may be going on currently in your life? Does a sudden mental imprint or AHA! moment pop into your mind? Go with your first impression. Take notes.

Prioritize Your Thoughts Meditation
Fun fact: on an average day, our minds think on average 60,000 thoughts. This is absolutely mind-blowing to me, and explains why it can be of tremendous use to have tools to bust up those thought streams, and give your mind a much-needed break.

You can use your tarot deck as a mental anchor, taking pause in the hectic moments of life, and slowing down the thought forms consuming you. Not only this, but it will also assist you in hearing your inner voice. Tarot is a wonderful tool for helping you prioritize your thought processes, so you can more systematically approach what needs to be done. This is an excellent exercise for those with ADD or who tend to scatter focus throughout the day.

Shuffle your deck while asking the deck to show you the one area of life to spend a little time reflecting on first. While shuffling simply project your intention into the cards. Divide the deck into three piles. Draw the top card from each pile and lay them out in front of you. Scan the three cards while keeping any disruptive thoughts from invading your mind. There is nothing but this moment, and this opportunity to learn something new about an area of your life. Just gaze lightly from card to card, not really committing to any one thought or insight. Begin to notice how the cards in front of you mirror something you are dealing with right now. With a paper and pen jot down notes about what area of life the cards are helping you prioritize.

Now gaze upon the cards again. What nudges are you feeling around this particular area of your life? Are the cards imparting any needed wisdom or guidance? If you would like, you can draw three more cards for additional insight. Trusting your own inner voice, write down 3 possible solutions the cards are revealing to you about that particular area of life. Allow your imagination and creativity to show you the way!

Combining your meditation and tarot practices brings an extra level of calm presence and capacity for deeper understanding during life's ups and downs. The key is to experiment with different settings, maybe even different card decks, and each meditation to see which ones work best for you. I hope you find these exercises helpful!

You can get even more detailed tarot and intuition building exercises just like this, including an in-depth meditation for each Major Arcana card in my new book Meditation and Tarot: Connect with the Cards to Develop Your Inner Vision.