People who know me know that I love podcasts. One that I really enjoy is Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. If you are a Harry Potter fan, I highly recommend this podcast.
 
The hosts, Vanessa Zoltan and Casper ter Kuile, don’t just talk about the books; they talk about them as if they are sacred, as if we can find wisdom and revelation in them. A book doesn’t necessarily have to sanctified by someone or some organization to be sacred. They read the books, one chapter per week, and then examine the chapter in details through a theme, like forgiveness, love, humor, loneliness, commitment, being a stranger, change, confusion, etc.
 
Another thing they do is draw sacred practices from different traditions, practices that were designed to be used with that tradition’s sacred text, and use them with the Harry Potter stories. One that most of us are familiar with is Lectio Divina. Another is Ignation Contemplation, which is very similar to something many tarot lovers already do: imagine the scene and put yourself in it.
 
Vanessa and Casper introduced me (through their podcast) to a new practice called Pardes. It’s from the Jewish tradition and is a method for exploring a specific passage in a text, usually the Torah. It is such an easy thing to extrapolate this practice to a tarot card.
 
It is only four steps. I almost said “four easy steps” but I don’t think they are necessarily easy. Spiritual reading and contemplation isn’t like vegging out binge watching The Magicians or something (however, it is also an activity I can recommend).

1. Peshat/Surface: describe what is literally happening in the card.
2. Remez/Hints: look for deeper, hidden, or symbolic meaning beyond the literal
3. Derash/Seek: this is a fun one! With this one, you look for resonances or similar occurrences of a symbol or some aspect of the text, or in our case card, that runs throughout the text. For example, if you are doing Pardes to the King of Swords, you may think about crowns that occur in the other cards in the deck or with the Fool, you may think about other times red and white flowers or a companion animal are present.
4. Sod/Secret or Mystery: This is a message that is given through inspiration or revelation (or intuition)

 
Give it a try and let me know what you thought. Better yet, try it with some friends or a meet up group. Enjoy!

In tarot everything can mean something. Most readers understand that the suits all have a specific energy. Likewise, so do the numbers. If you are like me, some numbers are easier to get than others. Fours have always been easy for me. A four-legged chair is more stable than a three-legged stool. Stability, security, and safety are associated with the number four. It's negative extreme is stagnation.

In our fast-paced world, we are more apt to keep the screen moving, keep scrolling, keep breathing in more and more information than we are to pause, to dive deeply, to process. 

Because of this, it might be good to consider the positive advice that we can find in the 4s. 

The number four is not just about stability or stagnation. It is also about stopping the flow of energy. Energy stopped for too long leads to stagnation. But in a world where energy is encouraged to move at a frenetic rate, I don't think we will hurt anything by slowing down a little. In fact, just the opposite. There are great benefits to slowing down.

A Blessing from the Fours

May you take the time to celebrate your achievements.
May you acknowledge and honor your emotions.
May you allow your mind time to integrate ideas.
May you listen to the wisdom of your body.

Sometimes in publishing, you have to keep your mouth shut about things and it was really hard keeping my mouth shut about this project because I LOVED working on it so much! Everything about this was fun. Even the committee meetings! Yes, I know! But everyone was super excited and creative. We came up with fabulous ideas. I got to pick out cards that I was aching to talk about. ​

There are four different page designs, so there is a lot of variety. Each design includes a card, of course. In addition, there might be a spread, a short essay, tips and techniques, specific symbol studies, and all kinds of good stuff. 

Don't take my word for it. Here are a few examples. I can't wait to hear what you think!