TAROT OF THE SPIRIT:
PHILOSOPHY, QABALAH, COSMOLOGY

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious—the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” 

                        -Albert Einstein

“Have you ever been tossed naked into a pool formed by a mountain spring where rainbow trout swim this way and that beyond all reasons or whys?  No?  Then plunge into the Tarot of the Spirit.  You will be cleansed of all that is dead.  And you will be astonished by how much life you harbor within the deepest regions of your soul.

-Brian Swimme, Ph.D., author of The Universe is a Green Dragon

“Magic abounds in this radiant book and deck of spirit!  In the alchemy of this sacred journey into deep earth, you are healed by its primal waters and carried on the winds of inspiration into the fire cauldron of transformation.”

-James Wanless, Ph.D., creator of Voyager Tarot

“Imagination is Everything.  Tarot of the Spirit opens the doors of perception, and possibility commences to surge.” 

-Joyce Eakins, M.F.A., painter of Tarot of the Spirit

THE PHILOSOPHY OF TAROT OF THE SPIRIT
A Personal Commentary by Pamela Eakins, Summer Solstice, 2007
Dear Reader,

I greet you as I greet the Sun. 

I am writing to you now, a decade and a half after the original publication of Tarot of the Spirit, to celebrate our collective excursion into the garden of inspiration.  Over the years, I have heard hundreds of accounts regarding the uncanny exactitude of Tarot.  I have heard, also, of the wondrous powers of innovation and healing Tarot of the Spirit has evoked.  Through the practice of this art—the art of Tarot—my own imagination has opened onto a reservoir of cosmic creativity, and the shape of my life has been fabulously transformed.  In this letter, I wish to share with you—in so far as I can find words for accurate expression—the nature of my personal transmutation.  There is an infinitude I want to convey, and so I will try to bundle it into the next few pages in much the same way a forest of oak trees can be bundled into an acorn.  As in a mystery, though much will be concealed, much will be revealed also.  I know the conditions are right, that we will enter into the mystery together, and that the time of our communion is now at hand.  Even as I write to you, I am as excited as a summer seed slipping out of its seed-coat to enter into the miracle of its burgeoning.

To begin, let me explain my method of practice.  Each day, I select a card—any card of the Tarot of the Spirit—and begin to quietly contemplate its message and design.  As I immerse more deeply, concentrating my attention upon engaging in a soulful internal dialogue, I may begin to perceive certain aspects of fundamental universal wisdom.  Each day, I seek a teaching as to how I might best align the flow of my energies with the continual flow that constantly transforms all the world within and around me.  I have learned that the Cosmos is in constant transition, that it moves like a river, ever being, ever becoming, tumbling forth in the shining luminescence of its own “imaginative intelligence.”  I have learned that the Cosmos issues forth, of, by, for, and from, the living wellspring—its source in the changeless aspect of its own eternal being.  At the heart of the Mystery, at the core of every atom of being, the “stable intelligence” resides.  In the midst of transformation, there is constancy, an essence which remains unaltered, while continually invoking new combinations of spirit, body, heart, and mind.  The Cosmos is dedicated to a never-ending adventure of invention and refinement, as the amazing process of evolution unfolds.  I have come to realize that the eternal flame—“that which issueth from the beginning and changeth not”—dances within everyone, everywhere, through all transformation, throughout all time. 

Here is the wonder of it:  This is your time, your place, your moment in the Sun.  The powers of the Universe are flowing though you now.  You are a blossom of Creation flowering, growing up through Creation’s majestic turf, scattering seeds.  You are that which is moved, that which moves, and “that which moveth not.”  You possess the gift of visionary artistry.  You have the potential to affect the course of the expanse of actuality—as do I—and, yet, we question whether or not our lives have meaning.

We live in a Universe with a trillion galaxies.  In wonder, in awe, beholding the miracle of bejeweled indigo, we contemplate our presence here, our purpose, the Mystery.  Our resilient heart springs faithfully to life, resonating with the Love we feel, but are often at a loss to explain.  Often forgetting to consider the fact that it took 13.7 billion years of elegant cosmic alchemy to evolve the eyes with which we now stand gazing, the ears with which we now apprehend the rustling bamboo, and the intelligence with which we perceive, understand, and imagine our way forward, we question whether the Universe has intention. 

Yesterday, I walked the bluffs above the sea.  I walked a living field of shimmering white yarrow, sun-drenched mustard, lemon yellow lupine, hot pink ice plant, and green brick sedge, all bowing reverently in the luscious ocean breezes.   Gingerly, I descended the hundred and fifty foot cliff down to the beach where massive erosion had revealed—beneath layers of stones and bones, sands and shells—whole fields of forty million year old fossils, clams and scallops, ancient seaweeds.  As I meandered onward, the strand narrowed as the waters rose.  The sky all around me changed constantly—no two moments ever the same.  Everywhere, I looked deeply into the heart of the Living Universe playing out its creative adventure of birth, death, and recombination, as forces and forms converged and commingled into the resurrection of ever new form.  I felt deeply into the mind of the “Anima Cosma,” which is to say, the Soul of Creation.  I gazed into the Mystery, and witnessed there, in the midst of the awesome spectacle—perfectly, comprehensively, and absolutely aligned—the profoundly intricate patterns of cosmologic orchestration.

I walk the cosmic field as The Fool, I walk as The Magus—those archetypal entities and energies of Tarot, who have helped me to perceive clearly.  I walk the living field with the “luminous intelligence” of The Empress, she who, as the Tarot archetype of verdant nature, gives rise to every blade of grass and every pelican that glides. 

Tarot has called me into remembrance.  Walking the path of revelation, I have felt myself awaken to the fact that I am alive.  I am alive in a living universe, full with the poetics of being.  Tarot is my spiritual and creative practice.  It guides me gently into the mysterious nature of becoming.  Earth Sister, the Tarot archetype living within as well as outside of me, has cradled me, time after time, in the womb of transformation.  Here she has repeatedly revealed secrets—future, present, and past.  She has taught me that the hidden knowledge of the Universe is contained in rhythms and sequence, and that right timing is of the essence.  From deep within the pages of Tarot of the Spirit, she says, “Embracing all that exists, I become bright and shine forth.  I gladly accept the powers of the Universe and act in harmony with the sequence of time.  On winter ice, I use caution.  There is no use in fighting winter.  There is a rich profusion of plants and trees, but when the forces that bring such vegetation forth are inactive, the wise one avoids the limelight.  The most secret and glorious aspect of my Self, now concealed, will unfold as time ripens.  Such an incredible beauty lies within, its immensity defies comprehension.”

Earth Brother, too, has taught me well.  He has shown me how to cultivate my whole life as a “moving meditation,” that my spiritual path is not something I do, but something I am.  He has taught me how to plant the “right seeds” in the “right soil” in the “right season.”   To know what is “right,” says he, I must immerse in cosmic design, and learn to recognize and participate with the evolving patterns.  Thereby will I attain balance, equilibrium, and unceasing productivity, the nature of which shall be cosmically attuned and universally aligned. 

Similarly, the “natural intelligence” of The Star has instructed me about the way in which I must ceaselessly meditate on my own nature.  Thereby, says The Star, will I come to understand that I am made of the same elements as Earth, of matter and energies created in the fusion process in the center of a star before the supernovic explosion.  I will realize that the force and form and potential that is me originally sprang forth when the Universe was born.  The Star has helped me deepen in my conviction that I am not a stranger here, I am not an alien.  Indeed, Earth herself is from stardust risen, and I am risen of, through, by, and for, Earth—a four billion year old dream in the making.  Through meditation, says The Star, one comes to recognize the nature of one’s own existence, to understand one’s personal and cosmic nature, and one’s individual, as well as universal, niche.  Thereby does one move into peaceful co-creation in synergy with all of nature.  Thereby does one begin to move steadily into the heart of all that is, with calm and peaceful agility.

I am alive, and Tarot is alive.  Through describing the emanations of universal forces and forms, through elucidating the process of universal sequence and timing—for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear—Tarot becomes a guide to understanding ourselves.  The most important teaching I have received through Tarot is that I amliving Cosmos.  I am Cosmos moving through Cosmos.  I am Cosmos walking its own sacred fields, with the amazing ability to reflect upon the fact that I am an integral part of universal Being.  I am universal Being becoming.  I am fashioned of all that has gone before; I am made of my ancestors.  Our ancestors are alive within us, as are our descendants.  I am that which has been, that which is, and that which shall be.  I am in reverence that I Am.  I am learning, more and more, with that revelation, how to fully immerse in the present, like The Hanged Man, how to extend out the boundaries of the now, and embrace each facet of my own metamorphosis.  I am that which changes, and that which remains unaltered.  I am That.  You Are That.  We Are That.  I Am That I Am. 

We are state-of-the-art Universe, with the keen ability to reflect upon its own nature, in the process of creating its own future.  We are not “like” a geologic or cosmologic force.  We are that force.

Tarot of the Spirit is a book of change.  An oracle from ancient and future days, it teaches not only how to participate with cosmological transformation, but how to stabilize within the heart of that holy essence which encourages, provides, and sustains at all times.  As we discover that sanctuary of Love that thrives in the core of our being, we come to realize the nature of our immortality as well as the nature of our own ability to love.  As we inhabit that sanctum sanctorum, as we begin to live within the sure foundation of eternal being, liberated from false and destructive views of death, we, as the Wind Sister says, become free to walk a path of genuine authenticity. 

Tarot of the Spirit is a treasure map of the human psyche.  It details the cosmology of human consciousness within the magical context of cosmologic consciousness.  It helps us understand and describe our emotions, find meaning, establish purpose, and organize the story of our personal lives as well as the story of our species.  Organizing our story is critical for ascertaining and ascribing meaning.  The story we tell about our lives, as The Emperor points out, provides our foundations, frames our structures, gives us windows to see through, and organizes all of our relationships within and beyond the human world.  Our story shapes our destiny, explains, for us, what is happening, what has happened, and how things came to be as they are.  Through our stories, we attempt to create an internally consistent way of understanding our world.  Thereby, the story we tell constitutes our path into understanding and our way into happiness.  Shaped by our stories, we justify, create, destroy, control, teach, and heal. 

Tarot of the Spirit helps us to understand and convey the story of our lives.  It gives us concepts and words, the symbols through which we come to know and express the feelings that arise from deep within our souls.  Tarot has helped me, personally, to recognize, again and again, that the purpose of this particular incarnation, for me, is to “affect the philosophy and values of humanity at this moment of our existence.”  How can I accomplish this?  Tarot has taught me that I must work, day in and day out, to awaken universal love in every way I can.  The High Priestess, in showing me my true path, has led me ever deeper into visionary cosmology and social activism.

The medium of Tarot works symbolically through activating the symbolic consciousness by which the human species learns and evolves.  Tarot is an organized compendium of thousands of symbols that serve to awaken both that which is known to us, and that which is new, at the deepest levels of soul.  The psycho-active symbolism ranges from washes of brilliant color to images of birds, cats, flowers, mountains, oceans, numbers, letters, astrological symbols, geometric shapes, and mysterious initiatory signs.  Coming into contact with new symbols and new combinations of symbols excites us.  It activates us to expand beyond illusions of limitation and open up our imagination. Simply stated, a symbol is a representation by which two entities come into communion with one another.  The symbols of Tarot, which are cohesive and synergistic, bring us into a direct dialogue with the mysteries of Universe and soul.  The symbols of Tarot of the Spirit give voice to innovative purposes and meanings, thus, they are causally efficacious—extremely effective at converting intention into action.  They empower us as a cause which elicits results.  As The Tower teaches, the symbol—in particular, the word—is a vibratory, highly-charged, wave of energy with the power to demolish the old and erect the new.  The symbols we work with in Tarot have developed in human consciousness over the course of millennia.  They continue to evolve as human consciousness evolves.  As such, these symbols are so well-conceived, they have the ability to help us—instantaneously—name and transform feelings that, at first, seem vague and amorphous, into a clear and direct call to action.   The Tower refers to this sense of spontaneous recognition as the “lightning flash of awakening.” As we work with the symbolic system of Tarot of the Spirit, we enter into the integral process of transformation, moved, ever more deeply, to become the truth of our selves.

As we engage in the practice of Tarot, our deepest truths, like cream, rise to the surface.  We experience truth with the fullness of spirit, heart, and mind.  When something is right, we know it is right.  We feel it in our bodies.  As we explore the multiple possibilities raised for us by Tarot, we begin to build the body of our lives, increasingly, on absolute, unconditional integrity.  As the Seven of Water brings truth to light, we begin to cultivate an interior landscape of right views, right aspirations, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right meditation, and right rapture.  As we deepen in “right meditation,” our perception of that which is “right” moves into ever deeper alignment with the “natural intelligence” of The Star, the natural intention of the Cosmos.  Eventually, we find ourselves moving into the divine harmony of our deepest universal callings.

Hereby, we begin to develop vision for ourselves, for our own personal lives, and for the future of our species.  With new vision, new possibilities arise, as do new responsibilities.  Experiencing enhanced vision is extremely satisfying, however it is not always easy.  Tarot, too, helps us work our way through fear, anxiety and muddled thinking with the Five of Wind.  The Five of Fire gives us the strength to walk through conflict.  The Five of Earth assists with health and financial issues, even as the Five of Water helps us cope with the emotional turmoil of a broken heart.  Like a good “labor coach” when one is giving birth, Tarot of the Spirit helps us push through the pain to bring forth new life.  Through the Fives, we learn to find our way through chaos and cataclysm.  Through the Sevens, we learn how to enhance and deepen the vision quest experience of life itself.

Like you, I have experienced many times of uncertainty, sorrow, and need.  In such moments, Tarot of the Spirit has served me as a wise guide and experienced counselor.  Many nights, through the years, working through personal challenges in love, work, and health, I have steeped myself in deep conversation with the living mystery of Tarot.  This in-depth consultation, time and again, has brought forth surprisingly vibrant wisdom.  In the archetypes of Tarot, I have come to know teachers—and I have come to know friends.  It might seem outlandish to think that a set of pictures could become a circle of friends, and yet, this is exactly what has happened.  When my mother, Joyce Eakins, painted the cards, she felt as if these friends and guides of Tarot emerged through her paint brush.  When it came time to send the paintings to Belgium to be photographed to be made into Tarot cards, she was not sure she could let them go.  Day and night, for seven years, they had been her constant companions.  They brought forth her own Great Work, instructed her in matters of life and death, and launched her, as she says, on the “freedom train inside the power of truth.” 

Twenty years of working with Tarot of the Spirit has helped me, personally, to develop a clear narrative of my own life.  It has guided me in academic teaching and research, as a professional counselor, as a professional mediator working with family and community issues, as a writer of fiction and non-fiction, as a lover, mother, spiritual teacher, and visionary cosmologist.  I am grateful that Tarot, which, a century ago, was kept concealed and made available only to initiates in certain esoteric traditions, is now easily accessible worldwide and available to the mainstream public.  Anyone, now, can access this wisdom to break open consciousness, and to enter into effective creativity through learning how to align with the cosmic flow of energies.  This expands the possibilities for being and becoming, for each of us, as individuals, as well as for our species.  We are Cosmos participating in the expansion of its own present.  We are Cosmos participating in the creation of its own future.  Therefore, like The Magus, let us embark together, upon a supremely intelligent path.

I invite you to join me in the wondrous practice of Tarot.  I invite you to enter with me into the ageless wisdom of Tarot of the Spirit—to enter into the mysteries of the Anima Cosma, the Soul of the Cosmos, wherein you will deepen in the certainty that you were meant to be here, now.  You are the living Universe giving birth to itself.  You sow the seeds of the future with every action you take.

Come alive to your creativity.  Come alive to the “creative intelligence” by which you enter deep truth, by which you will be liberated, by which you will fall in love.  Open Tarot of the Spirit to any page, or draw any card.  Thereby, enter into the eternal moment of cosmologic discovery, the lightning flash of illumination, as you begin to align—ever more powerfully—with the structure, order, purpose, and will, of the ever imaginal Real.

TAROT AND QABALAH



The symbology of the Tarot of the Spirit is based on orientations that originally arose in Ancient Egypt, Ancient India, and Ancient Greece. You will recognize, for example, many Egyptian and Pythagorean concepts contained in the illustrations. Later, however, those ancient ideas came to be housed in the Kabbalistic mystery schools of the Hebrews, the Gnostic Christians, and the Masons.
 
The heritage that informs Pamela Eakins and Joyce Eakins, the creators of Tarot of the Spirit, is Masonic Qabalism.

Qabalah is a cosmology, that is to say, an understanding of the order of the Universe, that originated in Ancient Egypt, Ancient India and Ancient Greece.  It was expounded upon and taught by Pythagoras.  Much of the Greek geometric system was based upon those teachings.  In the Middle Ages, Qabalah was drawn as a chart which depicted the outflow of the Universe in the Pythagorean number system from One to Ten.  In the seventeenth century, the tarot card system, also based on the One through Ten outflow by which the Universe is created, were aligned into the Qabalistic diagram. 

The Qabalah, the diagram of universal consciousness also known as the Tree of Life, shows how the Universe emanates from a single point into all that is.

Tarot shows how the universal interplay works in human consciousness.  Tarot, aligned with Qabalah, creates a map of human consciousness--one that has persisted for thousands of years.

Each of the 79 tarot cards in Tarot of the Spirit depicts, symbolically, an aspect of human consciousness.  It is knowledge of the sequential activity of the entire cosmological system that gives tarot its predictive nature.  It involves no more and no less than attaining an understanding of the cosmological laws or principles of the Universe.  Humans have always had an intuitive sense of the laws of the Universe.  And why should we not have such a sense?  After all, we are composed of Universe itself.  Therefore it is critical to turn inward, as well as outward, to attain knowledge of the Universe, which, not incidently, is knowledge of the self.

QABALAH AND COSMOLOGY
By whatever spelling the teachings are offered--Kabbalah, Cabala, or Qabalah--qabalistic teachings have always focused on the actual processes involved in the creation of the Universe.  The story that qabalists have passed down through the ages regarding cosmic creation turns out to be strikingly similar to the current theories posited by astrophysicists and quantum physicists in the twenty-first century.  Scientists are now referring to traditional qabalistic knowledge and state-of-the-art cosmological theory, as a "surprisingly accurate fit."  Qabalists outline the way in which the Cosmos began as a seed Universe, which gave birth to polarized particles, which, in ther attraction to one another, coalesced and issued all that exists as luminous matter.  From there, all the cosmological forces and forms poured forth. 

While the foundations of Qabalah are often attributed to the teachings of the Sephir Yezirah and Isaac Luria in the Middle Ages, the truth is that Qabalistic teachings are far older than that.  Additionally, Qabalistic knowledge is not frozen in the Middle Ages.  In the Western Mystery schools of today, Qabalah is seen as a living force, received by each student who studies the ancient path, then understood, evolved, and transmitted, according to the student's best abilities. 

The Tarot of the Spirit offers an excursion into the living Qabalah through tarot.  On this spritual path, the consciousness of the student is expanded as the student enters ever more deeply into alignment with the Living Cosmos. 

We are alive in a living Cosmos. 

Immerse in Tarot of the Spirit and become ensconced in the divine order of the Sacred Universe.