Tarot Awareness: Exploring the Spiritual Path [Paperback]

Stephen Sterling (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 8, 2000

Have you ever looked at the mysterious symbols on the Tarot cards and wondered what they meant? Or perhaps you have read the Tarot for others for many years but still don't understand how to use them for meditation and spiritual development. Or perhaps you use the intense imagery of the Tarot for meditation, but don't think it is "appropriate" to use this mystical tool for readings.

Well, now you can learn the meaning of the symbols for spiritual development and for giving great readings in Stephen Walter Sterling's Tarot Awareness.

The Tarot is composed of two major sections, the illustrated cards that form the Major Arcana and the cards of the Minor Arcana which are like a deck of playing cards with an extra court card for each suit. Each card has a meaning for a reading. The meanings of the cards are given in the text.

The Major Arcana cards also are about the spiritual development of your consciousness. As you go through the cards, from zero to twenty-one, you follow the progression of yours spirituality. The fifty-six cards of the Minor Arcana are associated with your development from the spiritual to the physical. In fact, they deal with the four levels of progression to manifestation, the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical.

Put this all together, and for the first time you have a book which integrates spiritual and practical, meditative, and divinatory.

One of the great things about the Tarot is that it's symbolic. Since the unconscious works through symbols, it speaks to you. Just working with the Tarot helps you to evolve, especially when you understand the Tarot's spiritual truths. In order to work with the cards the book shares five different readings you can do. As an added bonus, the book also deals with the difficult subject of "proximity," relating the cards in a spread to each other as opposed to just their positions in the spread. This can enhance your readings on your quest for spirituality.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Ageless wisdom provides many avenues and many disciplines to reach the Deity, but few are as varied, and yet Inherently cohesive, as the spiritual journey we know as Tarot." - author Stephen Walter Sterling"

From the Publisher

There was a time when people were specialists. But because of the quickening of time, discovery, and growth, it is becoming more and more difficult to be a specialist. It becomes more and more important to have a wide grasp of many ideas.

That's one of the many reasons I like Tarot Awareness by Stephen Walter Sterling. You see, in the past, many people used the Tarot just for giving readings. Others used it for meditation, in rituals, or for Kabalistic pathworking. Well, I think that the time for such specialization is ending. The evolution in thought that some people call the New Age has begun, and you can be part of it by learning as much as you can about yourself and about the many worlds we live in. This book can help.

In it you'll learn the spiritual meanings of the cards. This is primarily done through the language of the subconscious: symbolism. Here, the symbolism is interpreted so you can see how the Major Arcana cards indicate and can actually help direct your spiritual growth. The book is filled with meditations that can help in this. Then it goes on to give the divinatory meanings of all the cards and examples of how they can be used for this purpose. Besides the common means of interpreting the cards — looking at the meaning of the card in relation to where it falls in the spread — you'll also learn how the meanings of the cards are modified by cards that fall near them. This will open up entire vistas of interpretation, making your readings fuller and deeper.

There is so much of value in this book that it is really difficult to share it all with you. So I'd like to ask you to give this book a try. Look through it and you'll find that no matter your interest in the Tarot, this book is going to be of value in everything you do.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications; 1st edition (November 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1567186769
• ISBN-13: 978-1567186765
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,036,664 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tarot Awareness - a Gem, July 19, 2001

By 

Linda Mattas (Windsor, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tarot Awareness: Exploring the Spiritual Path (Paperback)

In Tarot Awareness, Sterling offers his readers his extensive research and knowledge of the Tarot and its meaning, along with his own intuitive and well-expressed guidance.

I find this book extremely helpful when I am involved in readings because of the clarity of the descriptions for each card. In the major arcana, for each card there is a description of the "General Atmosphere" as well as its application in a reading. The language flows well and offers a deep understanding of the concept.

For the minor arcana, the information offered is concise, descriptive, and well thought out.

Not only is the book helpful in readings, it works as an excellent tool to heighten awareness. For each card of the major arcana, a Visualization appears - a poem in which the language takes the reader inside the mode of consciousness being considered. Thoughts for Meditation are also included.

I have several books on the Tarot; this book has become THE indispensable one that receives the most use.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Astrological aspects for minor arcana......., September 25, 2005

By 

Kiwi (The Land of Enchantment) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Tarot Awareness: Exploring the Spiritual Path (Paperback)

This book is a must have for anyone who has started down the path of Tarot. The explanations of the cards are very insightful and full of understanding. The major arcana cards get pages and pages written about them which includes the upright and reversed positions of the cards. The most exciting part for me is that the minor arcana cards have astrological aspects assigned to them which I have found no where but this book !!! Also, the back chapters have pages of meaning with certain cards in proximity to other cards. This alone is terrific and helps enormously in deciphering the spreads.....I cannot express how fabulous a learning tool this book has become for me. I am sure it will be a favorite in your library as well. Happy Tarot to you !!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Substance and very readable, May 31, 2011

By 

P. Mcgaugh (Maine) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tarot Awareness: Exploring the Spiritual Path (Paperback)

Whereas most tarot books are dumbed down to the point that they are just husks of information meant to feed your memory, this book is substance for feeding your soul, and awareness, and in doing so it expands your knowledge of tarot.
It is scholarly, but not in the sense that you feel like you need a graduate degree to read it. It does help to have some knowledge of psychology, but if not, then with careful slow reading you will gain that anyways.
This is the tarot book for expanding consciousness!