The Wheel

When I was in Ireland I bought a beautiful tarot deck, The Fey Tarot. Printed by Lo Scarabeo in Italy, its artwork is by Mara Aghem and the book is written by Riccardo Minetti.

I bought The Fey Tarot because I found its images beautiful and intriguing. As I've begun to practice reading with it, I've discovered that it is exactly the right deck for me at this stage in my life's path, spiritual pursuits and intellectual interests.

The book begins by telling us:

In this deck the traditional archetypes of the Tarot blend together with the Fey world: whether one believes in their existence or denies it as though dreaming it, the Fey Creatures speak through the symbols of the imagination (especially in this deck), the infinite potential of the cosmos, as well as our world.

A human world which is characterized by the constant struggle "to have" vs. "to be". This struggle does not belong to Fey creatures, which are concentrated on being. They seem what they are, they are what they seem.

To begin to acquaint myself with this deck I went back to the practice of doing a daily reading for myself. Sometimes I address a specific question; often I just want to get a read on the day. Although I'm sure these cards could be as effectively read using any spread, I chose to use the spread recommended in the book - the Dream-Joy-Magic spread.

The card in the Dream position indicates the querient's desires. Joy indicates the reasons why the querient should be happy. And Magic indicates what the querient must do about this situation in order to overcome his or her personal limits.

The Fool

One of the things that I like best about reading with this deck is its insistence that we approach the questions we are asking from a Fey point of view. The Fey know pain, suffering, guilt, solitude, anger and shame like every human being, but they do not shun the negative aspects of their life; they do not become overwhelmed or defeated by them. Joy always shines through their in their thoughts and actions. The Fey are magical. Their magic is the possibility to do things that don't seem possible, to change things, to reverse situations, to fly. In the Fey world, wanting is being. To be is to do.

For someone who has been struggling lately with the effort just "to be" this offers a powerful message and the cards become a daily reminder to look at what's happening in my life with some fresh perspective. It is, after all, important to remember that there is always a reason to be happy, even if our human habit is to ignore this truth. And to have a magical lesson on how to use this joy to transform our situation represents the essence of why we turn to the tarot in the first place.

Three of Cups

When I lay a spread for myself, I first take a few minutes just to look at the cards. I make notes on what I see in their imagery - what the Fey are doing, the expressions on their faces, the things that surround them. I write my thoughts about what I think the cards mean, based on my experience of reading tarot. Then I look at the book to see what it says about the meaning of the cards. All together this serves to give me a nuanced reading and some fundamental knowledge about reading with the Fey.

The book includes a section that guides you through a meditative process for getting to know the advanced meanings of the cards. It essentially asks you to choose a card at random, to study its imagery, to read the meaning given in the book, and to contemplate why that card has that meaning. Think of other meanings the card may have. Look at the cards that precede and follow it - what insights do they have to offer? This exercise is very helpful to experience the cards not as separate, isolated ideas but as moments in a dynamic story. It also helps to bring about a richer and more complex awareness of what the cards represent to you as a reader, which in turn makes reading with the cards a more powerful and intuitive process.

For more information about The Fey Tarot, Tarot Passages has a few deck reviews: by Lee Burston, Joan Cole, Arielle Smith and Diane Wilkes,

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 1:34 PM